Girls' Frontline: The Fall (DISCONTINUED)
by okamisenpai34
Summary: this world is wicked, it takes without warning and spits us out into the depths of oblivion without a second's remorse. And yet. Despite this. I couldn't bring myself to hate it.
1. Chapter 1

**if you're reading this and you're also reading my other story: 'Nier:Refraction" then welcome back! a lot of things have happened since i released the latest chapter of Nier:Refraction so please excuse my absence, i wasn't really in a state to be able to write. i would also like to thank any Readers from my Reddit post! the fact you took the tine to read my story means a lot!.**

 **please enjoy this new story! i hope you guys like it, and no. it isnt finished. i might make this a 30ish chapter story like my plans for Nier:Refraction depending on the feedback i get!**

 **for anyone who isn't familiar with the game, here is the Wiki page for the DOLL i chose to use in this chapter.**

 **wiki/PK**

 **as always! please enjoy! lets have a blast with this one too!**

 **-Okami/psychomantis (if you're from reddit)**

* * *

 _"Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory."_

- **Douglas MacArthur**

* * *

Foundation

this world is wicked, it takes without warning and spits us out into the depths of oblivion without a second's remorse.

And yet.

Despite this.

I couldn't bring myself to hate it.

* * *

 **Housing sector 14/{ _Redacted_ }Monday 27th 2:26:00 PM**

 ** _BUMP BUMP_**

a sudden couple of thuds against my skull wake me up from my thoughtful slumber, once my senses are back in order I decide to assess the room once again. To my own surprise the room didn't smell like gasoline like the rest of the house did, the reason for that being that my family is mainly maintained thanks to my father's work as a freelance R&D researcher for some of the stationed Grifon commanders in the area.

"hey, did you hear me? I said checkmate, I win." My sister's voice echoes throughout the hollow, barely furnished living room. I look down at the board to see my king completely backed into a corner, and surely enough, the game had come to an end.

"you're right, good job Marina." I take notice of the white cloud that exits from my mouth as I respond, I guess my body is so used to it by now that I failed to notice it hurts to breathe due to the below zero temperature. I scratch my hair and wrap my blanket around my sister's body to ensure her small build doesn't meet the same fate as mine.

"we need to clean up now, the rations will be delivered in a couple of minutes. You don't want the delivery man seeing you like that now, do you?" I jokingly point at my sister's clothes. If you could even call them that. Our sector, Sector 14, was at the bottom of the chain, only the poorest of families were assigned into this section of the city. Due to its lack of wealth, a lot of the people living here had to come up with home-made ways to feed themselves, mostly farming and the sort. The wealthier sectors, mainly sectors 7 and up, were a completely different story.

"shut up! It's not like you look any better!" she responds, throwing an extremely worn out pillow at me, which almost exploded upon contact with my body.

"please behave you two, your father will be home soon." A voice comes out from behind us, stopping me and my sister in our tracks. The voice belongs to our household's assistant C-DOLL, a reformatted PK model. Unlike our C model, Grifon uses their original models, the T models or (tactical) models to be precise, which are made entirely for combat purposes. Most dolls begin their life-cycle by being appointed to a Grifon commander or being shipped out overseas to either be scrapped down for upgrade purposes or for other uses. If the doll manages to survive long enough to be given a retirement order, it is then reformatted, so no combat experience remains in their internal AI core and then sold in either underground black markets. Or civilian stores in high-income Sectors.

"sorry Lynna, we'll get ready soon." The PK model blushes slightly as the name exits my mouth.

"p-please don't call me that, DOLLs aren't supposed to be given names…attachment to us is a very discouraged thing…" she looks down at her feet as her smile melts into a painful squint, her silky silver hair hangs over the left side of her face, partially hiding her pained expression.

"well that's too bad, me and my brother love to break the rules, plus, you're family. And every person in a family deserves a name, right?" without hesitation, Marina takes off her Teddy-bear hairclip and walks towards Lynna, the PK model lets out an audible gasp as Marina clips her hairclip to the side of one of Lynna's bangs.

Lynna stands still for a handful of seconds before she slowly moves her hand to touch the hairclip on her hair, her expression suddenly lighting up in a way you would never expect something that isn't human to produce. To this day. I still think that beauty truly is everywhere, even in the tearful, loving smile of a retired Combat DOLL.

I swallow quickly and move towards Lynna, her face now full of tears of joy and love, without a second's hesitation I wrap my home-made scarf around her neck and pet her head softly. "it's okay to cry, to us, mother and father included, you're as human as anyone else."

"thank you" she whispers as she hides her face within the scarf.

* * *

 **Housing sector 14/{ _Redacted_ } Monday 27th 7:11:00 PM**

"yes, yes sir, I understand. I will let them know, please be safe. Goodbye." Lynna hangs up the wireless phone on its wall mount before sitting down on the floor facing us. "it appears that your father has received a lot of Repair requests from the Grifon commanders, he sounded a bit worried, it seems like something is going on."

"that's odd, father barely ever gets this amount of work…like ever." Responds Marina as she waddles over to Lynna's side.

I scratch my chin as a strand of cold sweat begins to run down my forehead. "wait…why would the Grifon commanders want their DOLLs repaired so suddenly? And with such urgency?"

Lynna's cherry pink eyes widen as the realization strikes her. "n…no way, there's no way! Not in this area!"

"what's going on you guys…you're scaring me." asks my sister as she hides her face in Lynna's arm.

I begin to shake as sudden flashes of light begin to paint the far sky beyond our broken glass window, the number of outcomes suddenly begin to pile into my head, driving my train of thought into a maddening state of overdrive. "Lynna we…we have to get to the evacuat-!"

Everyone in the room covered their ears as the emergency horn outside of our house is suddenly activated.

1 second.

2 seconds.

…3 seconds.

And finally, after 4 seconds. It stopped. And at that moment, everything I had ever loved seized to exist.

 **Housing sector 14/{ _Redacted_ } (4 months prior)**

* * *

"alright guys, I need you to pay attention to Lynna, I have a meeting with the Supply Depot manager today so please behave." Me and my sister both nod and bow in response to our father's response, we watch him as he puts on his combat boots and look at the frame picture of our mother before exciting our home.

As the door closes and locks Lynna turns to us and gives us a quick hug before pointing at the table "alright guys, lets study!"

 ** _47 minutes later._**

"good job Marina, you have an excellent grasp of gravity and spatial awareness, you would make an excellent Marksman!" Lynna rubs my sister's shoulder to praise the hair-rising amount of mathematic equations written into the textbook in front of her.

She crawls over to my end of the table and sits beside me once she is done. Her snow-white hair tickling my cheek as she positions herself in an all-too-familiar military manner. For someone who was retired, she surely doesn't act like she ever left does she?

"let's see here…your calculations are a bit rough, but your answers are satisfactory. This question should have been fairly easy, after all, it is a question about my model's weapon." She flicks my forehead playfully and giggles before turning back to my book. She continues to explain the problems in detail. However, I can't find myself being able to focus on anything she says. Mainly due to the fact that the sunlight emanating from the window somehow decided to rest entirely on her figure, making her glow in our gray, dusty little shack. Like a diamond buried within piles of dust and residue.

 ** _10 minutes later._**

"our final lesson for the day will be the emergency systems in our city. Do you guys remember them? we covered this last week right before we began your studies in proper battle formations." Lynna stands up and dusts off her knees before walking over to our run-down bookshelf. She bends down slightly before pulling out an orange covered book.

She clears up her throat before opening the book near its end cover "the city's emergency systems are as follows: weather alarm horns, military action horns, emergency radio broadcasts and finally. The city's fog horn alarm. All systems will broadcast the same thing, a simple tone in a repeating pattern, its length will alert the citizens on what kind of emergency to expect. A one second alarm indicates that the city's rations are low and will be decreased by 25 percent until further notice, a 2 second alarm indicates that severe weather conditions are expected for the current day, a 3 second alarm indicates that enemies have been sighted near the city, this alarm however will not be broadcast to the public to prevent panic, only Grifon personnel and the City Defense Department will receive this alert. And lastly…the 4 second alarm. Or as its more commonly known, the "black" alert. This alert indicates that the city's defenses have fallen, and the city has been lost to enemy forces, there is no guarantee that this alarm will be broadcasted in time to allow citizen to evacuate."

Her face becomes covered in sadness as she closes the book. From what father told us, we know that Lynna was a PK T-DOLL with nearly 10 years of service. It was safe to assume that in those 10 years of "life", she had seen horrible, unspeakable things.

* * *

 **Housing sector 14/{ _Redacted_ } Monday 27th 7:11:30 PM **

Me and Lynna stared at each other in terror as the alarm died out, letting the sound of nearby gunfire litter the room.

"Lyn-"

A sudden heat covers my cheek as a stray bullet breaks through our window, grazing my cheek like a sharp blade. Lynna's eyes widen in terror as she throws my sister from her arms into the hallway, yelling at her to stay prone until she says otherwise.

"Get down!" my vision blurs as my body is moved with extreme force by Lynna, the spot where I was sitting, becoming littered with bullets. Multiple laser lines becoming visible as the dust clears from the area.

"shit! Why did they send the Jaegers into the outer sectors!? They should be busy dealing with the SMG squads!" she screams before burying her face in her knees. "not again, please saves us. someone!"

"Lynna, brother! There's people banging on the door! They have kids with them! they want us to let them in!" screams Marina from the hallway, a look of extreme stress and terror on her face.

[ ** _This is commander Kishlev_** **_to all personnel and civilians, this is defense post a-13. The city has been issued a black alert, all Grifon personnel and their families have been evacuated, if you remain in the city…may god be with you.]_**

"It is not the homeless, mentally ill or extremely cunning people that we have to be afraid of. When someone loses everything that meant something to them is when people should get very afraid. A person that has nothing to lose is the scariest person on earth."  
― **Shannon L. Alder**


	2. Chapter 2

**all DOLLs and their illustrations can be found in the girls' frontline WIKI**

 **once again, thank you for reading this new chapter of GF: the fall.**

 **-Okami**

* * *

 **"I am dead because I lack desire,** **  
I lack desire because I think I possess,  
I think I possess because I do not try to give,  
In trying to give, you see that you have nothing,  
Seeing that you have nothing, you try to give of yourself,  
Trying to give of yourself, you see that you are nothing,  
Seeing that you are nothing, you desire to become,  
In desiring to become, you begin to live."  
**― **René Daumal**

* * *

 ** _Military Academy (Men's Building)/ Tselinoyarsk, Russia_**

 ** _Monday: 8:17:27 AM (7 years after the incident of Housing Complex 14)_**

"LYNNA!" I scream as my body automatically reaches towards the empty space before me, sweat covers the entirety of my body as the sunlight from the bulletproof glass window basks my figure in its glory. I gasp for air as my heart beats faster than a horse's full force gallop. I look to my sides to gather my surroundings. This isn't my home, this is a much smaller room, probably the size of my old home's kitchen at best. A small writing desk outfitted with a bolted chair furnish the southernmost corner of the room. My clothes lay piled on a corner near the door.

 _KNOCK KNOCK_

"are you okay 1227?" the voice of the Dorm's G36 model DOLL echoes into my room. 1227, that is my personal ID code, it is my name, it is my legacy, it is me. until we are certified and deemed proper commanders we are nothing more than numbers. Nothing more than a percentage, just a mere digit in some statistical chart somewhere in some office.

"yes, miss G36, I will make my way downstairs shortly for the announcement. Please don't worry about me, 1228 should be waking up soon next door." I sigh and ruffle my hair into place, attempting to make it look presentable. I stand up and neatly place my uniform into the bed, my uniform consists of a gray long sleeved shirt with plated armor on the shoulders, a vest with another layer of armor, and finally Digital Camo pants with padded knee pads for protection and steel-toed combat boots.

I dust off my uniform after dressing up and knock three times into the wall to my left, signaling my neighbor, 1228, that the preparation period has passed on that its time to meet down in the main hall of the institute. Shortly after two knocks echo from the same wall I had knocked into. Signaling that my neighbor received the message and is ready to go.

* * *

 ** _20 minutes later (main hall of the institute)_**

An AK-47 model T-DOLL walks towards the podium and clears her throat before leaning towards the microphone. "salute! the Director will now commence the graduation ceremony. Please welcome Director Kraniel Delavich"

An old man emerges from behind the crimson curtains behind the podium, his gait aided by a walking stick, from where I was standing, it almost looked like the old man would have a heart attack with every step he took. I take the opportunity to look behind me, rows upon rows of uniforms violate my vision, the same shade of gray stitched into my mind. The room easily could have help around 5000 people, and right now, everyone was shoulder to shoulder, indicating the room was at maximum capacity.

 ** _(Cough)_ thank you AK-47.**

 **"Greetings young commanders, as you may know. My name is Kraniel Delavich. I have served as a commander for the Grifon ranks for approximally 38 years. A long time I sat in those very same chairs, looking at another old man talking about the same thing I'm about to talk about. So please polish your ears and make sure you listen to everything I have to say. Today, marks the beginning of a new life for everyone in the crowd that was fortunate enough to graduate into our Commander program. You will be given your name back; your identity will be your own. Once you receive your medal and your first T-DOLL you will receive a code, that code will determine Whether you will be joining the ranks of Grifon or the newly built ARTEMIS company."**

The Hall becomes filled with whispers and murmurs as the Director finishes his introduction, multiple faces of joy and pride fill the air around me. my own however, remains unchanged. No matter what outfit I join, the outcome will be the same. I will find my sister, no matter what.

"ARTEMIS? Isn't that the company that retook London last year? I hear their T-DOLLs are something else." Squeaks a young female soldier from behind me

"that's amazing, I never thought I would have the opportunity to join the most Elite PMC company out there!" whispers the soldier to my left to me

"my mother will be so proud!" yells out another from 2 rows behind.

 **"Quiet please.**

 **Now then. Let us begin. Rows A through D please stand."**

The roar of multiple combat boots slamming on the floor echoes through the room as the soldiers stand in unison.

* * *

 ** _1 hour, 27 minutes later_**

 **"ID 4998, congratulations, you are the final graduating member of this year's class.**

 **Please come forward and accept your old documentation."**

The blonde female soldier runs up the steps with extreme joy, causing her long hair to dance in the air. "thank you, Director. I will make this Academy proud by making a name for myself out there! Please look forward to it."

Director Delavich smiles and nods at the young soldier before handing her an orange envelope. He then pulls out a small electronic tablet and places it in front of him. "now then, please place your hand here to finalize your registration as an official commander."

The woman nods and places her hand carefully on the tablet's screen, causing it to turn on with an extremely bright, sky blue hue.

[ ** _registration successful_**

 ** _…_**

 ** _Assigning assistant T-DOLL to new commander_**

 ** _…._**

 ** _Companion found_**

 ** _T-DOLL ID 1354587-ACE assigned to commander 4998]_**

Director Delavich takes out a radio from his pocket and turns it on into the appropriate channel. "I need ID 1354587-ACE to the main hall, her commander has been assigned, yes, yes please tell her to get here as soon as possible." Once the call Is over the director puts away the tablet and waits for the DOLL to arrive.

After a couple of seconds, the doors to the main hall open and a newly produced FNC type T-DOLL enters the room.

"wow lucky! A grade 3 DOLL only got a grade 2 SIG-510 Model, what a shame." Protests the newly graduated commander beside me. unbeknownst to him, his assigned T-DOLL looks down at the floor in shame as she clenches her skirt tightly to hide the hurt in her expression.

I silently wave the air in her direction to get her attention, the SIG-510 model turns her face towards me with a confused expression. "yes sir?" she whispers quietly.

I cover the side of my mouth so the soldier beside me can't tell what I'm saying. "he's just an idiot don't worry, I'm sure he's extremely happy to have you as his DOLL, I can tell you're very motived so don't worry, I'm sure you'll be an excellent asset for your commander." I whisper back to her.

She covers her mouth and hides her face as her cheeks begin to redden. "thank you, sir, I'll do my best for my commander."

I smile and give her a quick nod before adjusting back into my seat.

For the remainder of the ceremony, I swear she stared at me the whole time.

* * *

 ** _15 minutes later_**

I look down at the ground as the final student is given their documentation and leave the building, leaving me and another 14 students left. Undocumented, and unregistered.

 _7 years in this damn academy…and I didn't graduate._

Director Delavich turns his gaze towards the still sitting students and leans towards the microphone once again.

 **"As you can probably tell, the fact that you are all still sitting there indicates that your scores were not adequate for a passing grade. America, China, Russia, Africa. Everyone in this academy comes from all types of places, all kinds of ideologies and beliefs."**

 _God damn it, I trained and studied non-stop, I was the top of my class! Why aren't I outside with my own T-DOLL waiting to be enlisted!?_

The director gives the remaining group a wide smile before leaning back into the microphone.

 **"You're probably thinking you all failed to graduate, I'll let you know the real reason of your position right now. All the students outside were chosen to be commanders for Grifon.**

 **The 15 remaining students, that's right. That's you all.**

 **As of today, you're members of ARTEMIS."**

My eyes widen as my heart begins to race once again.

 _What? I'm…joining ARTEMIS?_

The doors to the main hall burst open, causing everyone in the room to turn around in panic. Multiple shadows appear behind the cloud of smoke as the debris clears out.

 **Your initiation will be a bit different from your classmates', first, you will be given new names, you will begin your service with a bonus of 40.000 credits (100 credits: 100 USD). Also, your DOLLs will not be randomly selected, you will have the freedom to choose by yourselves. Oh, and also. They're all grade 5 DOLLs. Please treat them with care.**

Multiple hooded figures line up in front of the podium. once they're all lined up, they take off their robes.

AK-12, AN-94, FAL, RFB, T91, and an OTs-14 all AR class dolls in the first row.

Vector, Type 79, Thompson, and a G36C model for the SMG class DOLLs in the following row.

In the middle row we have JS05, M99, DSR-50, Ballista and SRS, all RF class DOLLs.

Sweat begins to cover my forehead as I look more and more into the following units. "These DOLLs are elite class units! Why are we being given elite class DOLLs as our first units!?" I think to myself as I clench the end of my shirt.

MG4, MG5 and Negev stand tall near the last row, these are all MG class DOLLs.

And lastly on the last row, KSG and M1887. Both SG class DOLLs.

 **"Well then, let's not postpone this any further. You may begin your selections. Oh and be careful around some of these ladies. They're pretty…dangerous."**

The students around me stand up and make their way to the rows of DOLLs to pick out their new companion. I remain in my seat and look at the rows and the dolls are slowly picked out of the group. A couple of minutes later, only me and the student beside me have yet to pick a DOLL.

"go ahead, make it count." I whisper to my neighbor and pat his back, he nods at me with respect and goes to make his decision. 3 minutes later he takes back his seat with his new Thompson type companion.

"only you remain 1227, ready to make your choice? Whispers the Director as he suddenly appears behind me, I guess I must have been too busy being shocked by what was in front of me that I failed to notice the Director's absence from the podium.

"yes sir, I'm ready" I nod at the Director and stand up slowly. i look at the remaining DOLLs and look at their expressions. The remaining shotgun class KSG model is completely indifferent from my existence and fails to even notice me as I pass by her. RFB gives me a courteous bow and greets me with a silent "hi" as I pass her, I give her a bow in return and a quick smile before continuing down the row.

And then at the end of the row stood OTs-14, unlike the rest of the DOLLs in display, her posture wasn't flawless, and her body did have an imperfection. A straight scar going down her left eye, from her eyebrow all the way down to the beginning of her cheek. I had watched her earlier as my classmates were choosing their DOLLs, every single one of that had avoided her because of the scar. She always bowed slowly and gave them a sincere smile only to be ignored once they noticed her face. The pain in her face was clear, so clear that you could have seen it from 2 countries away.

She notices that I am approaching her and gives me a slow bow, this one was different however, she kept her face down the whole time. Probably to prevent me from seeing her.

"hi there, are you doing well today?" I ask as I stop right in front of her.

She flinches at the unexpected interaction and brings her face up to face me. "y-yes sir, I'm doing quite well today. Thank you for asking."

"it's a pleasure to meet you, have you served another commander before?" I tilt my head in question, making sure not to hurt her feelings.

She holds her own hands and looks to the side "no sir, this mark was made by an error during my Manufacturing process…I have no combat experience." A look of sadness begins to cover her face as she begins to think that I'm asking because of her scar. "please forgive me for being so unsightly…if I'm not chosen today I will be scrapped for my Core's parts. Please forgive me for wasting your time"

"they're going to be…destroyed if they aren't chosen today?" I think to myself. I grind my teeth together as I remember my Lynna in the back of my head. "you don't deserve that" I whisper softly under my breath. She notices what I said and turns her face up to face me. "s-sir?"

RFB slowly walks up to OTs-14 from behind and slowly pulls on my uniform's sleeve. "I would like this one." RFB declares as she looks back at the director for acknowledgement.

OTs-14 physically recoils as RFB wraps her arm around mine. "I like this one." Says RFB as she stares back at OTs-14. The two girls stare at each other with predatory intent for a couple of seconds before turning to face me. "do you like either of us sir?" they both ask in unison.

"I like you both actually…" I whisper as I scratch my hair from the stress in the situation. "but I can only choose one of you…I'm sorry."

"that's right, you can only choose one. But I never said one of them wasn't allowed to choose you too." Says the director as he stands beside me. "RFB has chosen you. I will allow this, but who do YOU choose?"

"her" I declare as I offer my hand to OTs-14. OTs-14's eyes light up with joy as she takes my hand slowly and gently, bringing it up to her cheek. "thank you for choosing me sir, no. commander" she whispers as tears begin to flow from her eyes.

"you're the first to walk out of here with 2 DOLLs you know, and the first ever from this academy to have a DOLL chose them also. Treat them well." States the Director as he hands me a golden envelope. He then proceeds to place a medal on my chest. "as of today, you're Zero, that is your new name. make ARTEMIS and their forces proud. Go ahead an clear out your room, once you're done you need to go to the airport. You're going to the ARTEMIS HQ, they'll be expecting you within 2 days. Don't be late. All the information you need is in the envelope."

* * *

 ** _5 hours later/ Tselinoyarsk, military airport a13/78_**

"Commander, why do we need to wear these hoods again?" asks RFB as she looks up at me with her emerald green eyes. OTs-14 nods as RFB asks her question to signal that she would like to know as well.

"I would rather we don't attract too much attention, after all. We are SPEC OPS now." I respond as I pet both RFB's and OTs-14's heads. They both smile brightly and nod before turning back to face the Taxi's window.

"just so you know OTs-14, he looked at me first." Whispers RFB into her follow DOLL's ear. OTs-14 simply growls at her and looks outside the window, doing her best not to tear her apart.

"this Is certainly going to be a new experience…" I think to myself as I look at my new companions. "this is good, isn't it?"

* * *

 **Life experience is what defines our character, even if it means getting your heart broken or being lied to. You know, you need the downs to appreciate the ups. Going on the adventure or taking that risk is important.**

 **Nev Schulman**


	3. Chapter 3

_If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm._

 ** _-Mahatma Gandhi_**

* * *

"girls don't get too distracted, we might miss the plane." I lean around the corner of the airport's souvenir shop only to be greeted by the sight of RFB and OTs-14 fighting over a newly released lineup of fur jackets by Salariat, the current most well-known Russian fashion company. "how much are those jackets anyway?" I ask as I step towards them.

RFB and OTs-14 look at each other briefly before picking up the tags of their jackets, only to change their expressions from surprised to faces of extreme terror.

"what is it" I ask as I walk towards them opening up my wallet to take out my newly acquired company card, which holds all of my credits. "co-commander…um…I'm not sure If I want this anymore." Says OTs-14 as she whimpers away from the jacket rack. I pick up the tag and bring it up to my eyes for closer inspection.

…

…

…

"commander?" asks RFB from behind me, tugging at my uniform to get my attention. "600 credits? For this?" I whisper to myself softly as the world begins to crumble around me.

* * *

 ** _13 minutes later_**

There I sat, a broken man. A broken man with 1200 credits less to his name. the sudden buzz of the airport's announcement system awoke me from my thoughts.

[ ** _Flight A24 has arrived in terminal 13, please make way for the new arrivals._** ]

"I hear there's a Grifon Engineer aboard the flight that just arrived. Do you think he's here on business?" asks an old woman beside her. Her face half-covered by a scarf to protect her face from the cold. "I'm not entirely sure ma'am, sadly I'm not affiliated with Grifon."

"is that right?" she asks as she inspects me up and down with her eyes. "who do you work for then? I'm guessing those women beside you are those T-DOLLs everyone is always talking about?"

I nod and bow at the old lady before pointing at my ID card. "Commander Zero, I work for ARTEMIS. These are my Companions, RFB and OTs-14" the girls beside me take this as their cue to step forward and take a deep bow before giving the old lady a sincere smile. "that is correct ma'am, we are T-DOLLs."

As my companions begin to chat with the old lady about the weather I decide to look over at the sudden flood of people from the terminal doors. Among them I spot a person wearing a Grifon hoodie, its bright orange hue completely separating him from everyone else. On both his sides are a AK-47 model DOLL and a Springfield Model DOLL. "2 dolls too huh? Quite the coincidence." I think to myself as I watch him leave the terminal area and head towards the main hall towards the exit. The man stops for a second to check his pockets and turns back towards me. We meet gazes for a second before nodding at each other in respect. He turns back shortly after and exits out of the main hall into the Cold streets.

[ ** _there have been reports of a hailstorm nearing the airport, all flights have been postponed until further notice]_**

I sigh as the announcer finishes his message and sink back into my seat. "great, now we are going to have to ride out a hail storm." My companions take notice of my disappointment and sit on either side of me, taking both of my arms into theirs. "at least you don't have to wait it out alone right?" asks RFB as she pokes at my forehead playfully. OTs-14 takes notice of this and pulls me towards her. I can't help but laugh as the two DOLLs commence a tug-of-war over my attention.

* * *

 ** _2 hours later._**

"commander, the storm has passed." OTs-14 softly shakes me to wake me from my slumber. I groan and stretch as my vision begins to focus once again. "how long was I asleep for?" I ask as I fix my hair to make it presentable. "around 2 hours Commander." Answers OTs-14 as she helps with straightening out my uniform. "thank you for waking me up" I respond as OTs-14 smiles and moves back to give me space to sit up. I look back in surprise as I find myself being unable to stand up, only to see RFB sleeping beside me, her arms latched around my left arm. I sigh and sit back on the chair in defeat.

"I'm going to give you names." I declare as I pull out my smartphone to check the time. OTs-14 tilts her head to the side in confusion before scooting closer to me. "what do we need names for? Are our assigned names not enough?" asks OTs-14.

"I just don't think calling you by the names of your weapons is right, don't you want to be seen as more than just your guns?" I turn and face OTs-14 who places her index finger on her lips. "hmm, I guess I never really thought about it that way. That's fine with me, what will our new names be?" she quizzes as she leans closer. RFB tugs on my sleeve apparently completely awake now. "I want to know too"

"please give me your ID's" I command as I put out my left hand in front of them. They look at each other before removing their digital name tags from their chests and place them on my hand. "thank you, now give me a minute." I turn around and connect the ID tags to my smartphone and replace the names on the tags quickly, once I'm done I turn around and face them once again. "you first OTs-14, here you go." She nods and steps forward, taking back her nametag from my hand. "Alice" she repeats as she reads off the name in the nametag "that's my name?" she asks as she hugs the nametag close to her chest.

I nod and pet her head before turning to the overly anxious RFB, her face basically screaming that she couldn't wait for her turn. "and here's yours" I say as I bend down to give her the nametag. "Joy?" she asks as she looks up at me. "my name is Joy?"

"yes" I reply as I bend down to her level.

"why did you name me with the name of the emotion for happiness?" she asks in confusion. Her emerald green eyes staring into mine.

"because that's what you two make me feel, Joy. It sucked being alone for 7 years you know?" I reply, trying my best to hide the embarrassment on my face.

Both dolls look at each other before their faces turn into a deep shade of crimson. "I'm going to overheat at this rate…" whispers RFB as she hides her face in her shirt. OTs-14 simply turns around and squeaks into her sleeve, trying to hide her scream of joy.

* * *

 ** _RING RING_**

I turn my attention to my phone once I notice the ringing.

 ** _[ARTEMIS alert system: Tselinoyarsk has been issued a code 3 alert.]_**

"what?..." I whisper to myself as continue scrolling down the message.

 ** _[multiple Sangvis Ferri squads have been sighted on the Tselinoyarsk mountains and its respective railways, all troops are to remain on alert.]_**

I turn off my phone and stand up as quickly as my body allows me to. "we need to go. Load your weapons, we might need to protect this place soon." I say as I turn to face my companions. OTs-14 and RFB stand up immediately and pick up their weapons.

"is something wrong?" asks RFB as she turns off the safety of her rifle, OTs-14 loads a new magazine into hers and loads the first round into the chamber.

I look down at my shaking hands and clench my fists as hard as I can until my knuckles pop. "very wrong, and things will get very ugly."

* * *

 ** _Tselinoyarsk guard facility A-334/ approximately 43 miles away from the railway station_**

"this suck, it's been 4 weeks since I was posted here and all I've seen is wolves and damn bears. No Sangvis Ferri anywhere. What are the old farts up in EON even worried about? There ain't shit here but bears and more bears." Yells out a soldier to another as they stare off into the distant snowy tree-line of the tselinoyarsk mountain side.

"Leviski how many times do I need to tell you that nobody gives a damn about your opinion? I would much rather get paid to stare at bears than to try to take down a whole squad of Rippers." Answers the soldier beside him as he sets his binoculars down into the wooden rail of the watchtower. "plus, I barely get any sleep when you bring up stupid shit like that, nobody ever even comes to tselinoyarsk! So, if we got attacked who the hell would help us? The damn academy is full of nothing but students and commanders in training. The closest Grifon base is all the way down by Moscow, it would take hours for them to reach this place."

Leviski takes off his helmet and sits down on the ground staring off into the distance. "I don't know man, I'm just trying to ground myself into the reality of our jobs, we're literally sitting ducks up here."

"are you both okay up there Nya?" asks a voice from beneath the steps of the watchtower. Levinksi and his fellow soldier sigh and turn around to face the source of the sound. "yes IDW, we're fine its just a bit chilly up here" responds Leviski.

"are you sure Nya? I can bring you guys some coffee if that would help, I think we still have a few bags of tea left If you would prefer that instead Nya." Asks the IDW DOLL as she pats off some snow from her uniform.

"Leviski, I would like some tea, let her know ill take her up on that offer." Responds the soldier beside Levinksi as he continues scanning the horizon with his binoculars.

"we'll take some tea, thanks IDW!" yells out Laviski from the side of the watchtower so IDW can see him from below.

"понимать Nya! Ill be back shortly with your order straight away Nya!" yells back the IDW model in response.

"remind me why our post only has an IDW type DOLL again?" asks Leviski as he puts his bulletproof helmet on once again.

"because it was either her or an AK-47 model." Responds the fellow soldier as he shivers from the thought. "and I sure as hell don't want our vodka stash gone in a day."

"правда" declares Leviski as he loads a fresh magazine into his SVD-63 sniper rifle.

* * *

 ** _14 minutes later_**

"your refreshments are ready Nya! Please come down while they're still hot Nya" yells out the IDW DOLL as she sets down a set of cups filled with freshly made tea into a table beside her. She then smiles as the two soldiers carefully descend from their watchtower stations.

"its getting colder Nya, are you sure you don't want me to take over for the night Nya?" she continues as the soldiers take a seat on the bench where their cups are waiting for them.

"negative, stay down here" responds Leviski as he pets the DOLL on the head, causing her to purr slightly. "how are those blankets we got you working out?" he continues as he offers a sip of the tea to the DOLL.

"they're very comfy Nya! I'm almost done decorating my room too Nya!" responds IDW with her hands in the air, emphasizing her excitement.

"I'm glad" responds the soldier beside Leviski as he takes a lengthy chug of warm tea.

"isn't that lovely" speaks out a voice from within the snowy plains.

"what the hell!? Who is there! Reveal yourself!" yell out the soldiers as they raise their weapons into their shooting positions. "this is a restricted area! Leave immediately" continues Leviski as he takes a warning shot into the air.

"I think me coming out is the last thing you want hehe…but if you insist." Responds the unknown voice before moving closer to the group.

What followed could only be considered a blur, Leviski watched as the soldier beside him exploded into a cloud of crimson, his intestines painting the cement walls of their station red. in an act of instinct Leviski grabbed IDW by the shoulders and shoved her into a nearby closet before lifting his index finger up to his lips in a 'hush' motion. "no matter what you hear, no matter what happens. Don't. make. A. sound." He whispered before petting the IDW one last time and locking the closet door for good.

* * *

 _To see a world in a grain of sand,  
And a heaven in a wild flower,  
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,  
And eternity in an hour._

 **— William Blake, Auguries of Innocence**


	4. Chapter 4

**_"At the temple there is a poem called "Loss" carved into the stone. It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out. You cannot read loss, only feel it."_**

― **_Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha_**

The hollow hallways of the airport echoed in silence as the world around me began to spin. Why now? Why did it have to happen here of all places, in a city full of innocent people. Children, mothers, fathers.

"thank you for your assistance sir, I will begin the lockdown of the building from here. There is a bunker beneath the building to protect the civilians, I will make sure they reach it." Spoke a retired FAL model DOLL, she had been assigned as this airport's guard once her military service was brought to an end. She bowed politely and left to meet up with the civilians downstairs.

"commander, we have evacuated the civilians left in the lobby." Spoke RFB as she ran towards me. She lowered her weapon once she was standing in front of me. "should we head for the academy?" she continued as she pulled on my uniform's sleeve.

I clenched my right hand into a fist as the stress from the situation finally began to sink in. as a student I had studied and trained for these kinds of situations, but I never once expected I would have to put that training to use so soon.

"the academy will be the last place to fall, and they would have heard the alerts first so I'm sure everyone was already evacuated." I respond as I place my hands on both of RFB's shoulders.

* * *

OTs-14 ran back to the lobby once she finished escorting the last group of civilians into the underground bunker. As she ran she began to notice that her hands were shaking, perhaps due to fear. Perhaps due to stress. She wasn't sure.

 _"It's not the time for this."_ She thought to herself as she shook her head and began running towards her Commander.

Once OTs-14 reached her commander she began to worry once she noticed how stressed he was, multiple strands of sweat could be seen running down his forehead, his fists were clenched so tightly that it felt like they could explode at any moment. OTs-14 opened her mouth to speak but was soon stopped by Zero's hand being placed on her head.

"it'll be okay, lets head out and make way for the train station, if we want to get out of here we'll need to catch one of the trains leaving, soon." He whispered to her as he slowly fluffed her hair. OTs-14 felt her core malfunction for a split second before it resumed normal functions.

" _he's thinking about us even now?"_ she thought to herself as she closer her eyes to fully enjoy her Commander's touch.

"yes sir, you have my word. I will do everything I can to make sure we succeed with our escape." Whispered OTs-14 before bringing her rifle back up to its shooting stance.

"you have my word too! don't think you can take him away now of all places!" shouted RFB as she violently slapped her Rifle onto her shoulder.

"thank you both, let's show them what we can do!" responded her commander as he nodded approvingly.

"yes sir!" shouted RFB and OTs-14 before nodding with predatory smiles on their faces in return.

* * *

 ** _15 minutes later/ City streets, 8 miles away from the train station._**

Multiple beams of light illumined the dark streets of the Tselinoyarsk business district, plastic bags and empty food cans littered the streets, multiple abandoned dogs laid asleep on cardboard boxes laid out in front of packing businesses. In the distance, a shadow ran from corner to corner, making sure to remain out of sight.

OTs-14 ran across an empty street, her rifle aimed up at the rooftops in case of a sudden attack. The streets were deserted now that most of the population fled thanks to the alarm. Those who didn't leave however, could still be seen inside their homes and businesses, looking out of their windows at the cold winter night. Her Commander and RFB went into multiple homes along the way to ensure nobody was left behind.

"I'm done checking my side sir, there is nobody in those buildings." Said RFB as she ran towards Zero. RFB knew how worried her Commander was. From the first time she laid eyes on him she could tell he was different. When she stood there in front of those students, she saw how almost every single one of them scanned her body up and down, clear clouds of lust could easily be seen around them. But he was different. He noticed her bow, and even bowed back at her in respect. His smile was genuine but almost…gray, as if something was missing to complete it, she wanted to be that missing part, she wanted to see him be happy. Happy like he had made her when he took her away from the predatory eyes in that room.

"the road is clear, we should make our way to the school. It's a straight shot to the train station from there, the children use it all the time to get to their homes." Said Zero to both of his DOLLs. Both nodding in agreement.

* * *

The group ran as fast as they could to the local school building, making sure to check for civilians along the way. RFB had managed to find a couple of children inside of an abandoned building. The children told the group that their parents left for the Airport to purchase tickets to escape but had yet to return. Zero told the children about the underground bunker and showed them the way on a piece of paper, drawing a makeshift map, easy enough for the kids to read.

"thank you, sir!" shouted both of the children as they ran outside of the building and headed towards the airport.

"will they be alright?" asked RFB as she watched them turn a corner and disappear into the night. Her face clearly radiating a massive amount of worry.

"they'll be fine, I promise. The map I made leads them straight to the airport, and also only uses the streets we passed, so I know they're clear of danger." Responded Zero as he looked down at her.

OTs-14 walked to Zero's side and turned her face slightly to face him. "Commander, have you…. ever been in a code black situation?"

She flinched as Zero's eyes became void, almost lifeless, a gaze of extreme anger replaced his once gentle eyes. "yes, I have" he responded in a monotone voice as he opened the front door of the building and slowly walked outside into the freezing night.

The group remained extremely silent the rest of the way to the school, RFB kept shooting glares at OTs-14 for apparently angering their Commander, OTs-14 simply lifted the hood of her fur jacket to stop her from seeing RFB's glare any longer.

* * *

"the building is empty" reported RFB to her Commander as she exited the now abandoned school building. Zero and OTs-14 stood outside of the school gate keeping watch. Zero simply nodded and began walking towards the train station, entirely forgetting about his companions.

"what did you do to him, spill." Ordered RFB as she bumped into OTs-14's shoulder to get her attention.

"I just asked if he had been in a situation like this…that's all." Responded OTs-14 in a shy, yet defensive tone.

"probably not the best thing to ask when we could be killed at any second, don't you think?" growled RFB as she glared at OTs-14.

"I was just trying to learn more about him, something is bothering him inside. I can see it." Replied OTs-14 as she lifted her head to look at her Commander, who was now walking in front of the both of them.

"you saw it too huh, well I'm kind of glad I'm not the only one who noticed it. Looks like you're not as dense as you look." Replied RFB.

"we have one final stop before we hit to train station, follow me" spoke out their commander.

* * *

 ** _Tselinoyarsk guard facility A-334_**

After a tiring hike up the hills of the factory district, the group finally arrived at their last destination. Guard post A-334. Zero stopped in front of the metal gates and looked over the building. To his surprise, the lights in multiple rooms were on, however, no shadows at all could be seen moving inside of the building.

"OTs-14, your weapon has a night scope correct?" asks Zero to OTs-14 as she brings her rifle up to her shoulder.

"that's correct, I'm a hybrid model. I'm made to adapt to both day and night missions." Responds OTs-14 as she swiftly clicks a button on the side of her rifle, turning on her night-vision scope.

"you'll be able to see a lot better then, I want you to scan the building from here. If anything moves inside, let me know." Replies Zero as he hides behind a nearby cement pillar. RFB takes note of this and takes cover behind him.

OTs-14 lays down on the floor to stable her rifle and looks into her scope. Her eyes slowly scanning the windows and exterior of the building, looking for any sign of life. After a couple of minutes, she stands back up and takes cover behind some bushes nearby. "something is wrong, there's nobody inside."

"that's impossible, there's a small stationed here, they even have a T-DOLL with them. we visited them multiple times during field trips, those two never struck me as the kind of men to leave their post." Replied Zero in a hushed tone. His fingers quickly moving up to his lips. There was only one reason for the place being abandoned. He didn't want to think about the worst possible outcome, but every second that passed without movement proved to be the fuel necessary to make his skin shiver.

"move in! now! We don't have time to waste!" he shouted as he began running towards the Facility's entrance. OTs-14 and RFB immediately followed him, sticking close to his sides in order to shield him from possible gunfire.

"c'mon, c'mon!" he chanted inside his head, almost as if he was summoning courage with some otherworldly spell. Every step that drew him closer to that rusted metal door made his skin crawl. Everything about the situation was now blaring alarms inside his head.

The sound of frozen grass roared through the courtyard as the team finally arrived on the building's front steps. RFB and OTs-14 looked at each other before giving each other a thumb up, indicating they were ready to breach.

"planting breaching charge. Armed, ready. Stand back" whispered RFB as she finalized the installation of her plastic explosives on the door. She stepped back and handed Zero a small remote before checking her rifle's charge handle for any malfunctions. "I'm good to go." she finished before turning to the door once again. OTs-14 didn't waste any time and checked her weapon's firing mechanism for malfunctions as well.

Zero looked at his companions and covered his ears before squeezing the firing mechanism on the remote, causing the facility's door to fly off its hinges into the room within. RFB went in first, waving her rifle from left to right, making sure to scan the room thoroughly for hostiles. OTs-14 followed right behind her as if she was her shadow, checking all the corners on RFB's blind side.

"clear!" shouted both girls before signaling their commander to come into the building. "there's only two rooms left to check, please stay here." Ordered RFB to her commander as she swiftly moved into a small room to their left. "I'll be checking the other room sir, please stay put" followed OTs-14 as she entered the room to the right.

"sir, we have…casualties" spoke RFB into her microphone.

"I…have another casualty to report." Responded OTs-14 shortly after.

* * *

"are you sure you want to see this..." asked RFB as she stepped in front of the door containing the reported casualty from earlier.

"yes, it is my duty as a soldier to make sure these men are remembered. Or at least brought back to their families if possible." Responded zero, reaching for the door handle. RFB simply lifted the hood of her fur jacket to hide her face. OTs-14 did the same and sat down on the floor next to RFB.

"I hope he'll be okay" whispered RFB to OTs-14 without looking at her from within her hood.

"we can only hope…if anything does happen, we have to be there for him." Responded OTs-14 as she buried her face in her knees.

* * *

Zero turned the door handle and walked in slowly, the smell of iron and sulfur littered the room, small pools of crimson liquid were scattered across the room, the wall to his right was covered in multiple holes. Holes belonging to bullets of heavy caliber, a little larger than 7.62x51mm rounds. The holes themselves expanded into little craters into the wall, most likely caused by explosive rounds.

Near the window laid out the torso of a man, its intestines laid out on the floor like rope, the body's lower half being nowhere to be seen. it's face completely disfigured and mangled from being shot multiple times at close range, bits and pieces of his skull laid bare by his arms. The corpse's rib cage leaked small beads of red as blood slipped from the exposed bones. Zero covered his mouth as his eyes focused on the corpse's face. Its eyes filled with terror. It laid there frozen, stiff.

"what kind of weapon could cause this damage…" Zero whispered to himself as he walked closer to the corpse and crouched in front of it. Closing its eyes using his fingers. "rest in peace." He whispered to the fallen soldier before removing his tag.

 ** _[Officer Cadet Ilia Kallinev]_**

Zero carefully moved the tag to his uniform's breast pocket and began looking around the room. Near a turned over table laid a heavily damaged SVD-63 sniper rifle. Its barrel completely bent backwards. "It had to have taken an immense amount of strength to do that." He thought to himself before ejecting the magazine from the rifle, revealing 8 bullets. The soldier had only managed to shoot twice before he met his fate.

He walked back to the corpse and saluted before removing the tablecloth from the turned table and laid it on top of the fallen soldier.

"thank you for your hard work. I will report your name to the office when I report in." he whispered to the corpse before exiting the room.

* * *

RFB and OTs-14 lifted their heads as the door opened. Their eyes filled with hope that their commander would be fine, that he would return to his usual, loving self. Their hopes were crushed when Zero closed the door behind him and lifted his head to stare at the ceiling.

"it's raining" he whispered to the girls as a single tear exited his right eye, falling unto the floor with a small, silent splash.

"Comma-!" shouted RFB in worry but was swiftly stopped by OTs-14's hand.

"yes commander, it is a terrible day for rain." Answered OTs-14 to her commander in an extremely soft and caring tone. Zero lowered his head and turned to go into the remaining room.

RFB bit her lip and shoved her face into OTs-14's chest before sobbing softly.

* * *

Zero closed his eyes as the familiar scent of sulfur and iron ravaged his nose. The familiar hue of red painted the walls in this room as well, except this room was also covered in it. The floor, the walls, even the ceiling. Almost every part of this room had been outlined with blood.

The splashing Zero's boots on the blood-soaked echoed through the room, quickly coming to and end once he stopped in front of this room's casualty. Unlike the soldier next door, this one was a lot more deformed. Arms bent in ways unimaginable, his eyes seemed to have been gauged out of their sockets. The soldier's mouth, or what was left of it, laid open as if the man had screamed until his last breath.

What laid in front of Zero could barely be considered a body, no less a man. It was a hunk of meat. A husk of a man stripped of his life. Zero bent down to take off the corpse's tag and swiftly read it to himself.

"lieutenant Leviski Azamash"

* * *

 ** _"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?"_**

― **_Mahatma Gandhi_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_welcome to the yet another chapter of GF: The Fall! i hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, im working hard to update this as much as possible. please leave a review and make sure you follow the story if you enjoyed! thank you for reading!_**

 ** _-Okami_**

* * *

 ** _The dream's come on time, it's clear, I can tell._**

 ** _I've seen your work everywhere._**

 ** _And there's mercy in hell._**

 ** _Celldweller- too many tears_**

* * *

 ** _Housing Sector 14/December 20th, REDACTED/_**

"bread, tomatoes, eggs, milk" a child chants to itself as he walks through the crowded streets of the commercial center. His small feet making slight splashing noises as they hit the dirt road below them, trash and abandoned goods litter the streets ahead, giving the street a feeling of low value and security.

The child stops as a flash of neon red blinds his left eye as he runs past a crowded shop. He turns and squints to be able to read the lettering better. Multiple men push him out of the way to get into the building, which is guarded by 2 armed guards, most likely mercenaries.

[ ** _Moxxxy's Doll House- New Girls Arrived today, 40% discount to new customers_** ]

"form a line, grab a ticket and get waiting." Orders one of the guards to a group of men who huddled around an open exhibition window, inside, a PTRD model DOLL could be seen dancing in what could barely be considered clothes. Her breasts were almost exposed every time she leaned backward on her dancing pole. On her left leg, a certain form of tag could be made out. 'PROPERTY OF LEONARD & CO.'

After the group of men are pulled away from the window, a man in an expensive looking suit pulls the DOLL back into the building by her hair, causing her to let out a cry of pain, which falls to deaf ears.

"do you approve of this treatment?" asks an unknown female voice from beside the traumatized child, an almost mechanic feeling in her tone causes the child's skin to crawl.

The child turns around and is met face to face with a beautiful slender woman in a maid outfit, the left side of her face covered by perfectly well-kept hair, on her head she wears a hairband which makes it seem as if she has horns, her eyes as gray as chalk. She kneels down and ruins her perfectly clean dress on the dirt below to come to the child's height level. "hello there little one, what's your name?" she asks as she pets the child's head.

"Lynna said I shouldn't give out information to strangers…" replies the child hesitantly.

"Lynna? What a beautiful name, is she your mother?" prods the woman in the maid dress as she tilts her head slightly.

"no, she's a DOLL, like the ones from the posters." Replies the child as he points towards a wall of military propaganda posters featuring multiple DOLL models. Multiple men in orange camouflage uniforms stand beside the posters handing out pamphlets to the populous.

"I see! So, she's out there fighting?" whispers the woman.

"no, she's at home, she said she retired a long time ago. It makes me happy though, I don't want her to get hurt out there by those seingvis feiry people." Replies the child as he gives the Maid uniform clad woman a bright smile.

"Sangvis Ferri." Corrects the woman as she redirects her attention to a couple of armed men walking their way. "say little one, do you know any good places to eat?" she asks in a hurry as she covers the side of her face with her palm as they pass by.

"hmm…the 'Sailor's Pillage" is a good place to eat if you like fish." the child answers as he checks a piece of paper in his pocket. "I can't really buy you anything miss…I only have enough credits for what Lynna said she needs for dinner tonight."

"that's fine. My treat?" she replies as she brings out a small purse from her uniform's pocket. A sincere smile forming on her lips as she begins counting her Credits.

* * *

The child and the maid uniform clad woman walk and laugh together as they crack jokes about the poor state of the Housing District. they shortly arrive into the pier, where multiple seafood shacks are setup for people to enjoy. Multiple run-down houses decorate the dirt road ahead, the smell of freshly caught fish and the ocean's salty sea invade both the child and the woman's noses. They both look at each other and pretend to puke before laughing heartedly. The woman notices a nearby stand selling cloaks and jackets and purchases a void black jacket for herself, she proceeds to put it on, shoving the excess of her dress inside of the jacket, leaving only her skirt exposed and then bringing the hood up to hide her face.

 ** _BEEP BEEP_**

The child turns his head in confusion as an ever increasingly loud beeping begins to emit from the woman's ear. The woman notices this almost immediately and bows apologetically before putting her index finger between her lips. "sorry dear, I have to pick this up."

'oh sure! Go ahead, I hope you aren't getting in trouble for being out so late miss." Replies the child as he walks ahead of the woman to find the restaurant they're hunting for.

"I wish there actually was someone worried about me back home" she whispers to herself before pushing a button on the side of the hidden earpiece on her right ear, causing a small microphone to expand out of a hollow slot.

"don't call me right now, if you need anything go bother Scarecrow…yes…yes I'll be going back soon I just wanted to recon a bit closer. Yes, I'm fine, no don't send them I don't need backup just tell them to wait for me outside the border. Bye." She whispers into the small retractable microphone before running to catch up with the child ahead, she stops midway as she notices she's smiling without meaning to.

"found it!" yells out the child up ahead as he points at a semi-decent looking building with a big wooden sign that reads [ ** _Sailor's Pillage: Sector 14's best grilled tuna sandwiches_** ]

A couple of minutes later the pair are seated by a worn down G43 model DOLL, her left arm completely stripped of its skin, revealing the metallic skeleton like bones underneath. Multiple wires run around them with a helix formation as if they were veins, a black fluid running through them in a pumping fashion.

"here's your menu, please enjoy!" says the G43 model as she hands both of them their respective menus and bows politely before going back into the kitchen through a reinforced door.

The woman and the child bring the menu up their faces slightly and begin selecting their choices in their heads.

"what do you usually get, kiddo." Asks the woman as she continues to read the menu diligently.

"I like their fried shrimp salads, they're the cheapest too. I don't really want you to spend a lot of credits miss…" replies the child as he grips the end of his dirty-rag like jacket.

"but if you could have anything, what would you have?" asks the woman as she flicks her index finger using her thumb straight into the child's forehead.

"their deluxe chicken tenders…" replies the child as he rubs spot where he was just struck.

The woman almost explodes into laughter but thankfully is able to cover her mouth before smacking her face into the table in a fit of silent amusement. The customers sitting near their table turn around and scratch their heads in confusion before returning to their meals

"yo-you're not very ambitious, are you?" she asks mid-laughter, her arms wrapped around her stomach to soothe the pain of laughing so much. "I could get you anything you want. At all. And you choose the 2'nd cheapest options, you're so adorable." She continues before fluffing the child's hair and planting a soft kiss on his forehead. "sorry if it hurt, I'm not good at gauging my strength around humans"

"are you not human yourself?" asks the child in a confused, yet fascinated tone.

"look under the table and I'll show you what I mean" she responds in a seductive tone, winking in the process.

The child blushes deeply and slowly peeks under the table. The woman lifts the bottom of her skirt, causing multiple tentacle-like cannons to slide out slightly, their barrels being slightly lit by the shop's lights.

"I'm a DOLL" she whispers before sticking out her tongue, blushing slightly. "what did you think I was going to show you, little perv"

"n-not-nothing!" whispers the child loudly as his cheeks begin to turn a deep shade of crimson. The woman raises her hand in the air, causing the G43 model waitress to return to their table.

"yes ma'am, are you ready to order?" she asks politely and brings out a notepad to write their orders on.

* * *

"how were they?" asks the woman as she stares up at the stars above, her gray eyes reflecting the shine of each star perfectly, giving her an almost god-like glow under the moonlight.

"delicious! thank you" replies the child, trying to remember if she told him her name or not.

"do you read fairy tales a lot?" she continues, turned her gaze down to him. A look of sadness hidden underneath the radiance of her smile. "I do, I always wanted to meet a prince that would take me away from the scary tower I live in. I envy those princesses, living out their life in eternal happiness after enduring their struggles for so long. I hope we meet again someday, if only you were a bit older…you could have saved me today."

"I'll find you then! And I'll make all those scary people leave you alone so you can smile like Lynna does every day!" replies the child as he tugs on her skirt and gives her a hearty smile.

"do you promise? If you play your cards right when we meet again, I might even be willing to become your bride" she replies giggling, sticking her tongue out playfully.

"I do" says the child as he offers the woman his pinky finger. "I swear. By the way, what's your name miss?"

The woman flinches at the question and looks away sadly before returning her gaze to the child, taking his pinky into hers in the process. "if I tell you, will you keep it a secret?" she asks wearily. The child nods his head in approval and gives her a thumbs up.

the woman kneels down in the dirt and closes her lips slowly before leaning her head on the child's left shoulder, whispering directly into his ear.

* * *

"Agent" whispers zero into the empty room before turning his attention to a faint humming coming from the inside of a nearby closet. His fingers wrap around the wooden handle of the closet door before he is suddenly stopped by the cold touch of a gun's barrel on his spine. Not one, but several. The electrical crackling of someone's optical camouflage being deactivated causes Zero's hairs to rise on end.

"summoning the devil isn't a wise decision for those sane enough to fear him." Whispers a familiar female voice into his ear. "who are you, why are you stupidly chanting my name to yourself as if it was some sort of spell? Do you have a death wish?"

"I'm just a soldier, nothing more. Nothing less." He replies as he brings his hands behind his head in submission. "did you do this" he asks as he turns his head towards the now covered corpse of a lieutenant once known as Leviski.

"no, Hunter did." She answers with clear disgust in her voice. "turn around and close your eyes, say a word and you're dead" she orders as she steps back slightly to allow the man she's ordering to turn properly. The multiple weapons coming from below her skirt moving back in unison along with the rest of her body.

Agent tilts her head slightly in confusion as the man's face begins to become familiar to her, especially his facial features. His oddly ash white hair, his light brown eyes, his…

" lift your hair, show me your forehead." She orders quietly so the two idly T-DOLLs outside the room don't hear her.

"um…sure" he replies as he grabs his hair into a bundle and moves it out of the way, revealing a small, yet somewhat visible scar in the middle of his forehead.

* * *

" _shit…I can't call for help; how should I deal with this person? Is she Sangvis Ferri? A looter?_ " Zero asks himself in his heart begins to beat faster with every passing second.

Just as he was about to say something, he was stopped by the warm feeling of a hand on his right cheek, causing him to open his eyes instinctively.

* * *

"are you…" they both as in unison. The room disappearing around them, their existences being absorbed into each other's gazes. At that moment, nothing mattered to either of them, nothing in the world but the promise of a time long past.

* * *

 ** _It takes one person to forgive,_**

 ** _It takes two people to be reunited._**

 ** _Lewis B. Smedes_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Welcome to another chapter of Girls' Frontline: The Fall! i would like to take a moment to thank everyone that has taken the time out of their day to read my story. i highly appreciate it._**

 _ **i also want to go ahead and thank my current reviewers for supporting the story so far! you guys are awesome, i look forward to your future reviews!**_

 _ **leave a comment or review if you liked the chapter!**_

 _ **as always, thank you for everything, see you on the next one.**_

 _ **ps. im currently looking for an editor or editors for this story and Nier: Refraction. if you're interested please let me know!**_

 _ **-Okami**_

* * *

 ** _"Your Worst Enemy Could Be Your Best Friend && Your Best Friend Your Worst Enemy"_**

 ** _― Bob Marley_**

* * *

OTs-14 and RFB sat in each other's arms outside of the room their commander had just entered, their hoods hiding their expressions of desperation and sadness. RFB rubs her hands together as the winter wind began to accumulate inside the building thanks to their earlier breaching of the front door, her breath becoming slightly visible.

"he's taking a while in there, isn't he? Alice." Whisper's RFB to her companion in arms. a small, hopeful smile across her lips.

"he is, Joy" OTs-14 nods slowly and smiles slightly herself, bringing her companion closer to shelter themselves from the elements while their commander finishes his military duties to the dead. Their thoughts are brought to a halt when OTs-14 suddenly sits up stiffly and slowly reaches for her gun, handing RFB her rifle in the process.

OTs-14 brings her index finger up to her lips and then points at her ear before looking at the door.

"listen?" RFB thinks to herself as she quietly crawls closer to the door, pressing her ear unto the cold metal entrance.

* * *

Agent's eyes grow wide as the image of the boy from long ago grows in front of her eyes, into the man that stands before her, a shy smile forming on her lips slowly as she deactivates her weapons, moving closer to him. "please tell me it's you, do you…remember me?" she whispers wearily as she caresses the man's left cheek in her palm.

She jumps back quickly when she notices the man reaching for something on the back pocket of his pants, her arms rising into shooting position, ready to rip him to shreds at a second's notice. Her weapons are lowered shortly after when she realizes that the object he was reaching was indeed not a weapon, but rather his wallet.

"how could I ever forget someone so unforgettable." He says to her as she moves closer to him once again. "thank you for that meal, I hadn't eaten in 4 days when we met. The tenders were delicious." he continues, bringing out a small black card and showing it to her while smiling. "my treat this time, okay?"

Agent wipes her eye as a small tear begins to form and then flicks Zero in the forehead where his scar rests. He closes his eyes expecting an even harder blow than last time, but instead, is met by a barely noticeable tap to his skin.

"I've gotten better, see?" she says giggling through tears.

They both stop dead in their tracks as the door knob leading to the room begins to turn slowly, the barrel of a gun slowly peeking through the miniscule opening. "are you okay commander? We heard you talking to someone." Asks OTs-14 as her bright yellow hair begins to come into view.

* * *

"comman- "OTs-14's eyes grow wide as her targeting system lock onto the woman beside the man she's supposed to protect with her life, multiple warnings reading 'EXTREME DANGER' and 'SHOOT ON SIGHT' begin to flood her visual systems.

"move!" shouts RFB from behind her as she sprints into the room, shoving OTs-14 to the side, causing her to trip and fall to the floor. "step away from him, Now!" she orders as she turns the dial on her rifle to automatic with a satisfying click.

Zero immediately jumps in front of agent, shielding her from the barrel of RFB's gun. "don't shoot, she's not the enemy" he orders, pointing at RFB's weapon and gesturing with his head to lower it.

"are you insane!? Do you have any idea what that…'thing' has done to us!?" RFB shouts back in protest, her finger slowly trembling on the trigger.

Agent quickly maneuvers around Zero and slaps RFB's rifle out of her hands, causing it to crash into the wall to their left. RFB tries to counter attack by drawing a hidden blade from within her boot but is quickly subdued by Agent's superior reflexes.

"you would dare point your weapon at your commander?" she hisses at RFB, shoving the barrel of one of her hidden weapons into her face. "you are a failure of a DOLL; disobeying orders is bad enough. But, putting this man's life in jeopardy is unforgivable" she growls, causing her eyes to begin glowing a slight hue of crimson, a trademark feature of SV dolls, signaling that they were entering their combat modes.

OTs-14 crawls to her weapon and immediately turns her sights to Agent's head. "let her go, right now." She orders as she slowly gets up to her feet once again.

Zero places a hand on Agent's shoulder, causing her combat mode to disengage. "let her go Agent, she acted according to her training."

She nods and gets off of RFB, allowing her to stand up and run back to behind OTs-14. "we can't just let her walk free, we have to do something with her."

"I'm not going anywhere regardless, so you don't have to worry about me." replies Agent, dusting off her dress.

"what do you mean, explain yourself" responds OTs-14 as she slowly moves forward towards her commander's side.

"I mean exactly what I said. I'm not going anywhere, plus, I have information that will be vital for your company in the long run, don't I." Agent replies, a smug grin fixed on her face. RFB takes note of her facial expression and immediately grinds her teeth together to contain her anger.

"like this right here." She continues, bringing a small box out of her dress pocket. "Elisa distributed these to us, the Elites. It's a portable information storage device, much like a Hard drive but it works only when handled by us, it's connected to our Cores.". Agent picked up the nearby turned over table and placed the box on its surface.

"how do we know it isn't a bomb or something of the sort." Hissed RFB to the SV doll.

"Tch, do you really think I would need something as barbaric as a bomb to dispose of you?" replied Agent, activating the box with her index finger by pressing a small button on its side.

* * *

Multiple holographic slides shot up into the room, suspended in empty space. Zero's eyes darted from picture to picture, attempting to digest as much information as possible. A very specific one caught his attention almost immediately, somewhere in the sea of words and pictures in front of him, stood a single slide with nothing but a name assigned to it.

"Operation: Hidden Element?" asked Zero as he turns his gaze towards Agent.

Agent nods and taps the file in midair, causing it to expand into an even larger version of itself. "we weren't given the specifics, but somehow, Elisa managed to sneak one of our prototype Dolls into Grifon. I haven't seen them myself, but their schematics showed they have mimicking capabilities, a modified version of my current ability."

"mimicking? You mean they can copy our appearance?" asks OTs-14 as she lowers her rifle to her hip.

"not just your appearance, but your internal organics and processing techniques as well. They're perfect copies of their target. They were even designed to bypass Bio-scanners that match fingerprints into databases." Replies Agent as she takes a seat on a nearby chair, crossing her legs in the process.

"how are we supposed so find something like that? It sounds impossible." Asks RFB as she ejects the magazine out of her rifle and proceeded to store it in her jacket's left pocket.

"no idea." Answers Agent bluntly. "but" she continues "I can tell you that there are traitors inside both ARTEMIS and Grifon, both human and Doll."

"how do you know this?" asks Zero as he places his finger on his lower lip in thought.

"I'm the former leader of the SV Elites, I know a lot of things." Agent replies boastfully. "by the way, we should be on our way, its about time they took it over." She continued, looking outside the broken glass window beside her.

"took what over?" asked the group in unison.

Agent giggled and pointed out the window at a fast approaching train. "why, that of course."

* * *

"if we arrive by the platform soon enough we can jump aboard! Lets hurry!" shouted OTs-14 as she dashed out of the room in panic, followed by RFB. Zero tried to catch up but was quickly left behind, looking back at Agent before opening the door leading outside.

"you coming?" he asks as he extends his arm out to Agent, a friendly smile on his face.

"you bet, I'm not losing you again. idiot." She responds giggling as she follows him outside. She silently turns to face the closet through the closing door behind her, whispering a few silent words as the door closes further and further.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

 ** _3 minutes later/ Train Station Platform A-212_**

"we have about 9 minutes before it passes, we need to be ready to jump in as soon as we can make contact." Whispers OTs-14 to the rest of the group as she looks down the Railroad tracks at the incoming train using her binoculars.

"what if we miss our target when we jump?" asks RFB as she ties her shoelaces tightly to ensure her boots won't come off.

"then you hope you die quickly. never been run over by a train before, so I couldn't tell you." Replies OTs-14, still looking into her binoculars.

"don't worry, just use your targeting system as if you were going to shoot the inside of the train, and simply follow the trajectory is gives you." Zero whispers into her ear, attempting to calm down RFB.

"good idea, boss man" Replies Agent, petting his head slowly.

"target approaching, prepare to board!" Speaks out OTs-14 to the group as she runs towards the docking platform.

"h-hey! Wait for me!" RFB shouts back as she frantically tries to keep up with OTs-14. Shielding her eyes from the overhead streetlights.

Zero gets to his feet and offers a helping hand to Agent who was sitting beside him. "ready? be safe in there."

Agent snickers and takes his hand, standing up with his help. "ordering me around already? Take me to dinner first at least." She whispers into his ear, winking at him before running off into the distance to catch up with the rest of the group.

Zero sighs and wipes the sweat from his brow before running full speed at the incoming train. "If this train doesn't kill me, I'm sure she will." He whispers to himself before jumping into a incoming cargo cart.

"jump now!" shouts RFB as she begins picking up speed, quickly jumping into the moving train through one of the passenger cart's windows. OTs-14 followed her, gracefully jumping through the same hole that RFB created on the window. Agent followed them, landing into the same cargo cart Zero went into.

* * *

 ** _Inside of the train/ cargo hold._**

"damn" whispers Zero to himself as he rubs the back of his head softly. "RFB? OTs-14? Guys?" he whispers into the darkness around him before bumping into something squishy.

"oh my, you're quite direct darling. Not that I mind, but we are in the middle of saving this train so that'll have to wait." Whispers back a familiar female voice from within the void around him.

"Agent! Is that you? Did I land on you by mistake?" he asks trying to feel his way through the darkness, unknowingly touching Agent all over the place.

"quite the contrary" answers the female voice giggling. Suddenly Zero's eyes close shut immediately as a flare is ignited right in front of him, causing him to recoil backwards. "Gah!"

"you owe me a lot more than dinner after that little stunt." She whispers before flicking his forehead softly. "let's go, the others are waiting ahead."

* * *

 ** _Inside of the train/ passenger cart.  
_** "intruders! Alert the carts ahe-!" shouts an enemy SV Doll before a bullet passes through her left eye, causing her skull to spray crimson into the wall behind her. The force of the bullet causing her body to stagger back into the wall, slowly falling to the ground.

"that's one down, switching to Sub-Sonic?" asks RFB to her partner as she checks the bullet chamber of her weapon.

"that would be most beneficial, yes. How much ammo do we have?" responds OTs-14 as she ejects her current magazine and replaces it with another, this one having a small blue stripe at the bottom of the bullet feed labeled 'SS'.

"nowhere near enough honestly if we're going to have to clear this whole place by ourselves. But if you want the specific answer, then 7 for you, 6 for me.", replies her partner as she begins to walk towards the Cart's door connecting it to the next room.

"let's hope our aim stays true tonight then." Whispers OTs-14 as she kicks the door open, quickly shooting inside the room.

* * *

Zero jumps to his feet as multiple gun shots begin to ring through the room's metal walls. "is that…"

"looks like we're late to the dance, and just so you know. I hate welcoming parties." Responds Agent, her eyes glowing a neon crimson as she dashes towards the door, kicking It open with enough force to tear it out of its hinges. Multiple cries of pain echo through the room as a squad of SV Dolls are cut in half by the force of the incoming broken door.

Zero looks inside a nearby crate and finds a water pipe inside, among other plumbing supplies. "first time for everything I guess." He whispers to himself before grabbing the pipe out of the crate and running into the next room, where multiple thuds could be heard as multiple bodies were thrown around.

* * *

"intru-Gah!" cries out a Jaeger type SV doll as Agent punches her abdomen from behind as she tried to reach the cart's speaker phone.

"weak" Agent whispers into her ear before riddling her upper body with bullets from her hidden weapons.

"guh! Damn it, there's too many!" shouts Zero as he disarms an incoming Reaper type SV Doll from the hall using his pipe, quickly smacking the top of her head until a splash of blood decorates the window curtains beside him.

"the more the merrier darling! Let them come try to steal this dance from me!" shouts back Agent as the horns on her hairband begin to grow slowly, a deranged smile forming on her lips. Zero moves away from the main hall as Agent happily skips past him, planting a quick kiss on his forehead before looking back at the enemies ahead. "be a good boy and wait for me, okay?"

* * *

"I'm out! Throw me a mag!" shouts RFB as she takes cover behind a passenger seat, multiple bullets zooming over their heads.

"here!" shouts back OTs-14 as she kicks the ammo bag across the train towards RFB's feet. She then quickly ejects her current magazine and slaps a new one in its place. "Combat Enhance: Agility, activate." She whispers to herself before jumping out of her place of cover.

RFB stares in awe as OTs-14 quickly jumps from Doll to Doll, placing headshots each time. She then closes her eyes and whispers to herself before slapping a fresh magazine into her weapon. "bullet supremacy: activate."

"what the!" cries out a Reaper type doll as RFB fires a bullet into her left arm, causing it to explode into a shower of rose red.

"explosive ammunition!? No, this is something else! They're Elite skills!" shouts another SV Doll as she jumps over her fallen comrade.

"take this!" roars RFB as she ejects the pin from a hand grenade and throws It at the group of SV dolls.

"a grenade!? In an enclosed environment? They're insane!" shouts out one of the SV dolls in the enemy group before being torn apart by shrapnel.

"out of the way!" shouts OTs-14 as she takes out her combat knife from her boot's hidden slot, running towards the enemy as she savagely tears them apart.

* * *

"more, more!" cries out Agent madly as she smashes the faces of multiple SV dolls in her way into the wall, causing them to implode into puddles of blood. Zero followed close behind, finishing off any injured enemies with his pipe.

"there!" she shouts as she stops, pointing her index finger in the direction of an open door. "don't be shy, everybody can dance if they try!". As she finishes speaking, she lifts her shirt to reveal all her hidden weapons, which begin firing a volley of lead into the room ahead.

Zero quickly takes cover behind her, covering his ears from the loud gunshots in front of him.

"tell me." she asks softly as she slowly turns around, her face completely covered in crimson, her lips curved upward into a void smile. "can you really accept this face? Love me as I am?"

"yes" he answer's back as he cleans her face with the sleeve of his uniform. "I know this isn't the real you."

"you might be disappointed later on if that's really what you think." Agent answers coldly before moving closer to him. "close your eyes for a second."

"um, ok sure." He answers wearily before slowly closing his eyes.

"our contracts are permanent, unlike IOP's Dolls, we were made to serve one person for life. Our contracts are sealed by a pact." Agent continue from within the dark.

"a pact? What do we need?" Zero responds, tilting his face in confusion.

'just your DNA, it's a form of imprinting basically" She answers shyly.

"my DN-hmph" he asks before being stopped by a soft and warm sensation on his lips, causing his eyes to fly open in instinct. His cheeks began to redden as the situation in front of him began to unfold. In front of him stood Agent, her eyes closed. Close enough that her eyelashes tickled the skin on his cheek slightly. Her lips on his, softly pulling him towards her. After what seemed like an eternity, she pulls back, leaving behind a short trail of saliva between their mouths.

"you better take good care of me…idiot" she whispers before placing a metal bracelet on his right wrist. "this proves our connection. With this I'll always know where you are, no matter how far away."

"what is it?" Zero asks, bringing the stranger metal bracelet closer to his face.

"they called them 'dive links' when they were given to us. I'm not entirely sure what they do, but I want you to have it. It works both ways too by the way." She says, bringing her arms next to his, revealing an identical bracelet on her wrist.

"kind of seems like-" , he replies, being interrupted by her lips once more.

"wedding rings, right? Or 'oath rings' whatever IOP calls them these days." She finishes.

They're both suddenly brought back to reality as running steps begin to echo through the room from the ceiling.

"let's have a look." Whispers Agent before grabbing zero by his side and jumping out of a nearby window, grabbing a nearby ladder in the process to climb to the top of the carriage.

They both use their hands to shield their faces from the incoming snow as the train zooms by the snow-covered mountains ahead. "hey, isn't that..." asks Zero, squinting his eyes to try to identify the figure running in front of them.

"a Springfield model, I wonder what it's doing up here." Replies Agent before grabbing Zero into her arms, bridal style. "I wish this could be reversed but this is the fastest way."

Zero simply nods and accepts his position as Agent begins dashing through the snow-covered metal rooftop of the passenger carriage to catch up with the Springfield doll.

* * *

 ** _Thud thud thud_**

RFB and OTs-14 looks at each other as footstep appear and disappear into the distance overhead.

"hostiles?" asks RFB as she ejects the magazine on her rifle to check her ammo count. 10 bullets, she only used half her magazine.

"Im not su-" she replies before being interrupted by a nearby scream.

"Gah! Don't go so fast! We're going to fall!" shouts a familiar male voice from overhead.

RFB and OTs-14 stare at each other before running frantically for the ladder leading to the top of their carriage. "Commander!?" they both shout in unison as they frantically climb the steps as quickly as they can.

"she went into this cart hurry!" shouts their commander as they prepare to breach the room below using the windows. "got any rope?" he asks as Agent sets him down on the ground slowly.

"yes sir, right here." Replies OTs-14 as she digs into her ammo bag, taking out multiple bundles of carbon fiber rope. "you might need this too sir, I recovered it from a fallen ARTEMIS guard aboard." She continues, handing him a Knight's SR 25. "it's loaded and ready to go, here is some ammo." She finishes as she hands him 4 full, 20 round magazines.

"get ready to breach." Zero orders to his companions before grabbing a bundle of rope, tying it to a nearby air vent before wrapping it around his body firmly, tugging on it to check its firmness.

* * *

"3, 2, 1. Go." Whispers Zero into his microphone before turning the dial on his weapon's safety to off and jumping off the side of the train, crashing into the room below from the window. As his feet break though the window, the room below begins to unfold. To his right is a Thompson model T-Doll on the ground, heavily wounded and bleeding out, to her sides are a Familiar Grifon soldier and a Springfield T-Doll, lastly, at the end of the carriage sits an AK-47 Doll, her rifle aimed at the masked Doll to his left. Scarecrow.

OTs-14 and RFB crashed in from the windows in front of him, landing hard on their knees. Their rifles aimed directly at Scarecrow, their eyes trailing to their commander for directions.

"hands up" ordered Zero before nodding at his companions to move closer to their target. As they were about to take a step closer however, Agent crashed into the room through the window to Zero's left, landing gracefully on her feet.

"Agent, excellent. Elisa informed you about the Train's attack, thank god." Cried out Scarecrow before being thrown to the ground by Agent.

"not quite, the one who orchestrated the take back of this Train was me." answered Agent as a sly smile began forming on her lips. "notice anything different?"

Scarecrow's eyes widened as she read the information on her HUD. "you…you let someone imprint you!? Wait…him!?" she cried out, struggling on the floor. Agent smiled and kicked her stomach, causing her to spit out a small spray of blood. "ding ding, correct. That means Elisa isn't the one issuing me orders anymore. And don't worry about remembering any of this. I'm not letting you sync to the neural cloud before I kill you." She continued before shoving a combat knife straight through Scarecrow's eyes.

"you damn t-tra-traitor!" roared Scarecrow before her body began convulsing, short circuiting shortly after.

* * *

 ** _"You too have known loss, and that loss torments you still. You hope hatred might someday replace the pain, but it never goes away. It makes a man hideous, inside and out. Wouldn't you agree? We both are demons. Our humanity won't return."_**

— **_Skull Face/ Metal Gear Solid V_**


	7. Chapter 7

**_sorry for the late chapter, i had to stop for a while to recollect my ideas. the series is still going and i have every intention to finish it._**

 ** _thank you for supporting Girls; Frontline: The Fall._**

 ** _-Okami_**

* * *

 ** _3 days later/ Sicily, Italy. 10:45 AM/ ARTEMIS headquarters (Zero)_**

"How is she doing?" asked Zero as multiple mechanics rushed in and out of a nearby repair room.

"Stable, her skeleton absorbed most of the damage from the shot. A lot of things had to be replaced however." Replied an ARTEMIS mechanic as he looked over a chart containing multiple graphs.

"I'm guessing you have to leave?" asked a hooded man from beside Zero.

"For the time being, yes. I have to report to the main office for my debriefing." Responded Zero as he dusted off his uniform before turning around to face the sitting, hooded figure.

"Take care out there." Responded the figure before lowering its hood, revealing a young man, roughy in his late 20's. the clean structure of his face showing no signs of extreme combat experience, but his gaze was rather piercing, alert at all times.

"You too." responded Zero as he extended his hand to shake hands with the man.

"Abraham, sorry for not telling you my name sooner," responded the man before flashing a hearty smile. "Will you tell the girls that the surgery is almost over?"

"Of course, see you later," replied Zero as he waved goodbye to the man before exiting the room. Agent, who was in disguise with a blonde wig and casual clothing stood in front of him as soon as he crossed the archway leading to the waiting room.

"Are we done here?" she asked, her tone pleading. "Every second here could be my death." Her voice barely came out above a whisper, as she looked around the room nervously.

"Almost, I have to give some information to Springfield first, we can head upstairs right after, okay?" Zero replied as he fixed Agent's hair from popping out of her wig.

* * *

"I see, that's good to hear. Thank you for letting us know." Said Springfield as she bowed politely to Zero before turning around to hand her AK-47 type partner the news.

"I'm so glad she doesn't need her Core replaced! Let's go wait with Abraham" replied the AK-47 model before darting down the hall.

"Can we go now?" asked Agent as she burrowed her face on Zero's back in an attempt to hide from the prying eyes around her.

"Yes, yes." Replied Zero as he laughed to himself. Agent took notice of this and jabbed his side with her hand, causing his body to coil awkwardly.

"Gah! That hurt!" he shouted before rubbing the spot where Agent just hit him.

"Your lack of speed hurts me even more!" she growled at Zero before pouting, putting her hands on her hips. The Springfield model Doll who watched the whole thing simply giggled to herself before casually walking down the hall.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to take so long…" he replied in between breaths before turning around to head for a nearby elevator.

Agent noticed that a small red stain had begun to form on his shirt where she had just hit him, causing her to push him into the empty elevator and closing the doors behind them. "Are you okay!?" She cried out in panic as she tried to lift his shirt to look at the wound.

Zero slowly leaned back against the nearby rail and slowly lifted his shirt, revealing that his side had been scratched severely by what looked like to be claw marks. "It's not that bad, RFB has some bandages in our travel bag, I'll just ask her to give me a patch. "he said as he looked over his wound, a sudden sound causing him to look upward towards Agent.

* * *

 ** _Inside elevator. (Agent)_**

Agent stared at her fingers as multiple pieces of flesh began to drip down onto the floor from them, creating a grotesque squelching as the wet skin made contact with the floor below them.

"I…I'm…." she stammered as her legs began to feel weak, causing her to stumble backwards slightly, crashing into the elevator wall.

"Agent it's fine…it isn't that bad. It'll heal." He said slowly and calmly. Agent simply shook her head in protest, slamming her hands on the floor in front of her.

"I hate this!" she shouted in between tears as her sobbing began to become uncontrollable. Her Cries becoming louder and louder with every breath she took.

 ** _DING_**

* * *

Hearing screaming coming from the elevator, RFB and OTs-14 ran up to the doors, concern growing on their faces as the door opened

"C-Commander!? What happened?" asked RFB in panic as she ran to his side the moment she noticed he was wounded. OTs followed soon after and helped Agent out of the elevator, carrying her on her back.

"Just a small accident, that's all," Zero replied before petting RFB's head. "Could you get me a patch and some disinfectant?"

"Of course, give me a second," she whispered back before digging through their travel bag for their medical supplies.

"How did this happen?" OTs-14 interrogated as she set down Agent on the opposite wall from Zero. Her eyes filled with panic and anxiety.

"I...we…I didn't…" she whispered to herself before hiding her face in between her knees, sobbing silently. Zero took notice of this and began shuffling to her side, placing his hand on her head as he settled beside her.

"it's fine, Agent. I know you didn't mean to." He whispered to her as RFB quietly applied disinfecting spray on his wound before placing a patch on it, causing him to wince slightly.

Agent never spoke again for the rest of the way to the CEO's office.

* * *

 ** _15 minutes later/ CEO's office. (Zero)_**

"that finishes my report. Scarecrow was eliminated during the fight, the train was secured and properly delivered to its destination. Ivankov made it out safely along with his bodyguards, two casualties to report, two guards on a watchtower, employed by IOP, but we did have a Thompson model almost be eliminated." Said Zero loudly to an elderly man who sat in front of him on a very expensive looking, gold plated chair, connected to an even more extravagant Desk covered in highlights of gold. In the middle of the desk laid the ARTEMIS symbol, a female angel with a sword on her left hand and a handgun on her right. her wings created out of multiple rifle models. In front of the desk laid a name plate with the name 'Bianco Mortem.'

"regrettable, I will make sure their remains are delivered to their families properly. And your Dolls?" asked the elderly man as he took a cigarette from his tuxedo's breast pocket, lighting it swiftly with a ruby-encrusted lighter.

"operational, no severe damage." He replied, making sure to be as professional as possible.

"both inside and out?" quizzed Bianco as he leaned forward on his chair, setting his elbows on the table.

"sir?" asked Zero in confusion.

"some wounds are invisible to the naked eye, you might want to check them thoroughly these next few days, initial combat can be scarring, sometimes permanently damaging." Continued Bianco before leaning back into his chair once again. "take a few days off, you still need to find a place to live anyway, don't you?"

"yes sir, I still haven't found proper housing, but I can go straight to work if you need me to." Replied Zero saluting.

"I'm glad you're so zealous about this. The plans changed when you retook that train, you earned yourself some rest. No rookie work I could give you will amount to that experience."

"yes sir…" replied Zero, almost extremely disappointed at his Boss's decision.

* * *

 ** _3 minutes later/ outside of CEO's office_**

RFB and OTs-14 rose to their feet as Zero exited from the CEO's room, a look of dissatisfaction on his face.

"have we received new orders?" asked RFB as she hugged his left arm, getting on her tiptoes to get closer to his face.

"no" sighed Zero before lowering his head. "the complete opposite, we just got ordered to rest for a couple of days, maybe 2 weeks tops."

"rest sounds pretty good right now, I still haven't had my post combat analysis yet, I want to make sure there aren't any abnormalities" said OTs-14 approvingly. Agent remained quiet and stood as far away from Zero as possible.

* * *

 ** _ARTEMIS HQ entrance_**

Zero and the group exited the building after being issued their new orders, the group ran into Abraham on their way out as a Grifon helicopter entered the airspace to take them back to their HQ.

"leaving so soon?" joked Zero as he patted Abraham's shoulder.

"not really in the mood for pizza or spaghetti this time of year." Answered Abraham, laughing along with Zero. Zero caught a glance inside of the helicopter, inside sat Springfield, AK-47 and a newly repaired Thompson. They all waved in unison as Abraham began walking towards the helicopter, boarding it shortly after.

"will he be alright?" asked RFB as she lifted her head to look at the helicopter before it disappeared in the horizon.

"yeah, he's got good people watching over him." Answered Zero before taking out his cellphone out of his pocket. "now we just need to find somewhere to sleep, with our current funds that shouldn't really be a problem." Zero sighed before looking behind him at the massive, 200 story-high building.

* * *

 ** _Sicily/ Business district._**

The group walked aimlessly from street to street discussing where to bunk for the night, while Agent quietly followed the group. She added nothing to the conversations. RFB and OTs-14 took notice of this and attempted to start small conversations with her, all their attempts failing constantly by a barrage of deafening silence on her end.

"you can take that off you know? We aren't in the military zone anymore." Said RFB as she pointed at Agent's wig.

Agent said nothing in response, turning her head away to face the neon sea of advertisement boards ahead. RFB pouted and stomped her foot on the ground before turning away herself. "geez, talk about having a stick up your ass…" she whispered to herself before running ahead to Zero's side.

Agent watched as RFB's face lit up as soon as Zero turned around to face her, asking her If everything was okay. "Is it really okay…to be like that?" she whispered to herself before looking into a nearby restaurant through their display window, inside sat multiple families, some teenage couples and elderly people. Multiple C-type Dolls slowly walked through the tables, taking their orders and cleaning up as customers finished eating their meals. She stops slowly and places her hand on the glass, leaving a slight print behind.

* * *

"Agent…?" asked an all too familiar voice from behind. Agent jumps slightly at the sudden action, slowly turning around.

"y-yes I'm here…" Agent responds in a small, fragile voice. Her gaze still fixated on the families inside the restaurant.

"what's wrong?" asks Zero as he looks in the direction of Agent's gaze, finding a family at its end. A young mother and father, no older than early 20's sat eating together, feeding their seemingly new-born child a spoon of what seemed to be mashed potatoes.

"what do you mean, nothing is wrong." she asks, still gazing at the family inside the restaurant.

"but you're…" he responds, a pinch of hesitation in his tone.

"I'm what." Agent responds, turning her body completely to face him. RFB and OTs-14 covering their mouths to hide their silent gasps from what they see.

"look at your reflection…" he replies, handing Agent his cellphone with the front-facing camera setting activated. Agent slowly extends her right arm forward, taking the cellphone into her hand before looking at herself.

"ah…" she stammers to herself as her eyes become fixated on her reflected face. Agent never knew that Dolls could create such faces, such emotion. Such agony.

Agent slowly brought her free hand up to her cheek, drying up the tears that had silently falling from her eyes all this time. Agent didn't understand how this came to be, to cry one must first be sad, or agitated, even angered. She didn't feel any of those at that moment.


	8. Chapter 8

**welcome back to another chapter of Girls' Frontline: The Fall.**

 **thank you so much for taking the time of your day to read my story! im finally back after a little break, so updates will come a lot more often!**

 **i look forward to your thoughts, suggestions and opinions!**

 **-Okami**

* * *

 **Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.**

 ** _Martin Luther King, Jr._**

* * *

 ** _2 days later/ business district, 8:30 AM_**

After looking for what seemed an eternity, the group stumbled upon a 'tenants wanted/ special offers for military personnel' notice posted on a nearby community billboard, the 'billboard' of course, was nothing more than a bunch of floating holographic notices suspended in space. Many people stood nearby, swiping back and forth from notice to notice, probably to keep up to date with everyday events.

Although it was fairly easy to find news, especially in such a well-kept region. It was extremely hard to find uncensored articles, Much less entire broadcasts. Zero had learned about this back at the academy, the reason for the censoring of major news media was due to an act called the **WWAPA** , the act had first been brought up by the U.N during the initial days of the SV threat.

After updating his phone's GPS, Zero and the group headed for the address listed on the notice. the apartment complex was located approximately 13 miles away from the commercial district. the only downside to the location was that the team would now have to take public transport to go back and forth between HQ and their new home. Zero did, of course, have the option to buy a car big enough to hold all four of them. The only problem with that would be finding a dealership that would be willing to sell him a car in short notice. Thanks to the heavy demand of Dolls, many factories had been repurposed for Doll construction. Thanks to this, many businesses had to file for bankruptcy, and ultimately die. Buying a car these days was almost impossible, unless you built one yourself, which many people did. Zero, however, didn't have the knowhow on how to properly build a vehicle.

Zero sighed as they descended down the steps leading to the underground train system, he hated being underground. It felt as if he couldn't breathe at times.

"what do you guys think the rent will be?" he asked, stretching his arms to relieve his tense muscles from walking nonstop since this morning.

RFB took notice of her Commander's fatigue and reached for his hand, slowly holding it with her own. "I'm not entirely sure, every district has different living standards and economic backgrounds, there's just too many factors to bring into this guess." She replied, giving Zero an energetic smile.

OTs-14 watched closely from behind, her cheeks puffed up as if they were to explode at any second, she was pouting so fiercely that steam had begun to exit from her ears. "no fair." She whispered to herself before turning her gaze back onto her new phone.

Although they could easily communicate using other means, zero decided that it would be best to get each of them a phone of her own. RFB had chosen an emerald green touchscreen model, while OTs-14 picked a more modest orange model which was 3000 credits less than RFB's. Agent however, did not want a cellphone, she insisted on getting a smartwatch instead. The newer models on display could create small holographic keyboards to type your messages into, they could browse the internet as well, among other things. The only problem was the cost, the most expensive cellphone in the story ran for about 2000 credits, Agent's watch however, ended up costing 8000. In total. The final bill ran to 12,000 credits.

"well, based on the location and the businesses located there, I'm going to say around 3000 credits a month." Agent responded while doing some calculations on a holographic calculator interface that was being displayed from her watch.

"you totally pulled that number out of your ass." Hissed RFB as she looked back at her.

"not at all, the average rent in this sector is 7500 credits. That's mainly due to the benefits of living here, being close to everything involving business. The Sector we are heading to is famous for its agriculture and fresh produce. The lack of convenience, apart from food of course, will bring the price down drastically." Agent replied, her eyes focused on her calculations. "you would have found the same thing if you tried, but sadly, your mind seems too busy trying to seduce our owner on a daily basis." She finished, turning her eyes towards the stunned RFB model.

"s-s-seduce!?" protested RFB as her face reddened deeply into a dark shade of crimson.

"seduce, excite, arouse. There's plenty of words for it." Agent answered, her index finger on her upper lip, a predatory grin on her lips.

"look who's talking! Aren't you the one who always teases him anyway!?" RFB shouted as she squeezed her commander's hand tighter.

"there's a difference in subtlety in comparison to your desperate attempts at attention." Agent responded as the train pulled up in front of the waiting line ahead.

[ ** _now boarding tickets c-533, destination: district 9]_**

"that's our call." Said Zero as he looked back at his companions, they all nodded and moved closer to him to break through the incoming crowd.

* * *

 ** _14 minutes later, on route to Sector 9_**

Agent closed her eyes as the swaying of the train put her mind into a state of tranquility, as if she was being cradled by tender arms. To her right was Zero, looking outside of the window as the train passed multiple landmarks. His gaze was fixated on the people however instead of the buildings themselves, a sad expression would sometimes surface on his face whenever a pair of children came into view. RFB and OTs-14 were to her right. RFB had been tired from walking all day so she laid her head on OTs-14's lap and had fallen asleep. OTs-14 was too busy glued to her new phone that she failed to notice she had been talking to herself all this time, assuming that RFB was still awake.

Agent let out a small smile as she saw OTs-14 cover her mouth to prevent her laughter from being exposed, she assumed that OTs-14 was probably looking at another **channel** post.

Her gaze slowly shifted to the sleeping RFB model.

"being able to sleep with such certainty of safety must feel nice." Agent spoke to herself inside her head.

"are you tired?" asked Zero from behind her.

Agent snapped back to reality and turned around slowly, coming face to face with Zero. "a little bit, sleeping on the sidewalks these past 2 days is starting to get to me, I need a shower soon." She replied as she moved closer to her Commander.

Zero scratched the side of his head and bowed apologetically to Agent, an action that caused Agent to flinch in surprise slightly. "I'm sorry for not being able to find us a good home yet, it was never my intention to make us sleep on the streets…"

Agent narrowed her eyes slightly as her hand began to extend towards her owner slowly, finally coming into contact with his left cheek shortly after. "you've done well thus far, don't sell yourself short." She whispered into his ear softly. "it does not matter if its an alley, a box, a hotel suite or under the bottom of a car. As long as you're taking care of us I don't think you'll ever truly disappoint us."

Zero closed his eyes and allowed Agent to caress his face with her soft hands.

"how can you be so sure about that? I mean look at you guys, you're all elite models and yet I've treated you like second rate models. Hell, I haven't even found us a home yet. I'm sure the Boss would be pissed if he found out about our current condition." He responded as Agent moved closer to him, his nose picking up a sweet scent of flowers shortly after.

"then let him be pissed, if he so much as touches you, you know that me and the girls would bring down that building to oblivion with us." Agent softly cradled Zero's face near her own and brought his face down to her chest.

The surrounding passengers gasped and stared as Agent slowly began brushing his hair slowly as if she was taking care of a fragile child. To her, she was simply taking care of the only person she ever knew that really accepted her, both good and bad. To the passenger's however, it looked like a married couple embracing each other passionately.

"oh my, the youth sure has become more public with such things." Spoke out an elderly woman next to her husband as she covered her mouth to cover her smile. "such a wonderful pair."

A group of high school girls sitting nearby giggled as they took pictures of the sight before them. Their eyes filled with jealousy and dreams of a similar future for themselves.

"it looks like we've caused a scene, dear." Agent whispered into Zero's ear, giggling softly to herself. She moved her head back slightly when no response came from Zero. To her surprise, Zero had fallen asleep with his arms around her, his face buried on her chest. "oh my, If I didn't know better I would call you the biggest perv right now…but I wonder if you even see me like that."

She closed her eyes and buried her nose into his hair, slowly dozing off as his scent began clouding the world around her.

* * *

 ** _Flashback: Agent, 12 years ago._**

Agent opened her eyes as the heat in the distance made her skin feel warm against the cold, winter air of the Russian mountain side. Multiple corpses laid in the dirt before her, some human, some Dolls. Destroyed and Dreamer stood by her side, writing multiple notes into their portable communication devices to send back to Elisa.

"any news on our recon squads up north?" asked Dreamer as she turned around to speak into her headset.

"they've spotted multiple contacts nearby. They leading force has been identified as an American unit but their capabilities have not yet been measured." responded a female voice from within the headset.

"and the others?" Dreamer continued as she sat down on the tower of corpses in front of them.

" **ACR,** although the specific unit has not been identified yet."

Dreamer sighed and rubbed her forehead before taking off her earpiece. "alright, we'll deal with them on the way to the next destination. Maintain communications to a minimum, we'll let you know if we receive any further orders from **_RQ_**."

"this is boring me to death, are we going to hunt them down anytime soon?" Destroyer asked as she began poking one of the corpses with a sharp stick, leaving small cuts on the rotten skin.

"RQ told us to not attack until we have accurate information regarding their capabilities. You know this, Destroyer." Agent slapped Destroyer on the back of the head, causing her to stumble forward and faceplant straight into the face of a decapitated soldier.

"GYAH!" Destroyer cried out as she rubbed her face furiously to get rid of the bloodstains. "y-you bitch! I'll kill you!" she screamed as she slammed her fists into the ground, creating a small crater beneath her knuckles.

Agent grinned and picked her up by the neck, causing Destroyer's smaller body to wiggle in the air wildly. "what was that?" she asked as one of her weapons' barrels slowly slithered from beneath her skirt, finding its way to Destroyers forehead shortly after. "you do understand that speaking against your leader is considered treason, correct?"

 ** _"Do it"_**

A distorted voice echoed inside Agent's head as Destroyer began begging for mercy as her grip began to tighten around her small, slender neck.

 ** _"She insulted us. She deserves to be erased."_**

Agent's grin began to warp into a demented smile, which caused Dreamer to walk backwards slightly to make space between her and the demon in front of her.

"I'm…sorry, please. It hurts…" Destroyer began to cry as her consciousness began to drift In and out of existence.

"don't you think that's enough?" Dreamer whispered as she began to worry about Destroyer's well-being.

"she has broken one of Elisa's rules. She must be erased." Agent replied coldly, the color in her eyes completely faded into a void of rage.

"E-Erased!? Are you insane!? You can't just kill her for something to sma-"

 ** _BANG_**

A small thud echoed through the snow-covered mountain side, followed by a horror-filled scream.

* * *

Agent lifted her head and look around to gather her surroundings.

Civilians, she was inside of a train, to her side were her new companions and in her arms was…ah, that's right.

"I know where I am." Agent smiled as she softly planted a kiss on Zero's sleeping face.

* * *

 ** _30 minutes later/ address written on the notice._**

"it's a lot better than what I expected, honestly." RFB whispered as she lifted her head to try to find the top of the building in front of her.

the group had expected to find a modest housing complex surrounded by farms and livestock factories, instead, a massive building stood in front of them.

Zero stammered and looked at his phone and back at the building repeatedly. "I-I um I think I got the…wrong address."

OTs-14 pointed at her phone's screen and looked back at the building. "no, we are at the right place. I looked up the address on my GPS too."

"this is certainly unexpected." Agent said as she put her hand to her forehead to protect her eyes from the sun as she tried to find the rooftop of the building above.

After admiring the building, the group headed inside.

The lobby was probably the most beautiful thing Zero had ever seen, not that he had seen much to begin with anyway. The gray tile floor beneath them was so clean that it could easily be mistaken for a massive mirror. The wallpaper on the walls radiated luxury, they were a light shade of yellow which was perfectly accented by the dark floor beneath them. Multiple paintings and other furniture decorated the walk up to the reception desk.

"Welcome to Neo Eden, are you perhaps here from the notice?" asked a young slender woman from behind the reception desk. She wore a very expensive dress, so expensive in fact that Zero could have sworn he saw the same dress earlier today on a commercial about a new fashion designer.

"Y-Yes, I saw that you were offering special prices for military personnel?" Zero replied, trying not to sweat from the pressure of talking to someone so well dressed.

"that's correct, we have special apartments built entirely for military personnel. I can see that you're still wearing your uniform, are you perhaps interested in purchasing a room?" the lady asked politely as she turned around to pick up some paperwork.

"I got this." OTs-14 whispered in Zero's ear, softly pushing him aside. "yes, ma'am that's correct." She continued.

"oh my! You must be one of those high-grade Dolls aren't you! I've never seen an elite class before." The lady replied as she shook OTs-14 hand gently.

"that's right, all 3 of us are Dolls. And this is our Commander." OTs-14 smiled and hugged Zero's arm Lovingly, which only caused his anxiety to rise up to a new level.

The lady's eyes widened as she looked at the group In front of her. "my goodness, you must have served quite a while to afford such company."

"except this is my first week on the job, and I'm homeless." Zero thought to himself as he smiled at the woman's words.

"we currently have the upper suites available, they're all 4 room apartments, located on the 30th floor. They come pre-furnished and are ready for immediate move-in." the lady said as she pointed as some schematics of the apartment layouts on the papers in front of her. "may I ask which company you're employed by?" she continued as she began writing some notes on the registration papers.

"oh, my apologies. I forgot to give you my ID." Zero quickly took out his wallet and handed over his ID card to the Receptionist.

"you're employed by ARTEMIS? Oh my, you should have said so from the beginning! We happen to be co-owned by them. let me find the paperwork and information for ARTEMIS personnel."

What happened next was so fast that not even Zero could keep up with it. Once the receptionist came back with the paperwork, the group was amazed to find out that the quality of the apartments skyrocketed once the new paperwork was brought out. The rooms were not only bigger, but the furniture included in the apartments also increased in quality and amount. Flat screens, quantum core computers. Some rooms even had private hot springs built into a hidden room. OTs-14 quickly barraged the receptionist with massive amounts of information regarding their current situation and Zero's rank inside of the company.

And so, that is how the group came to be the first residents of the 91st floor.

* * *

 ** _5 days later/ The group's new home. 6:00 AM_**

"breakfast is ready, please wake up everyone." RFB ran to the hallway and called out for her companions in a playful voice, her usual combat attire replaced by more casual clothing. A pink long-sleeve shirt and a white skirt to match. Thanks to their time off, and lots of Agent's constant barrage of insults and teases, RFB decided to try to become the group's support pillar. She read multiple cooking books and watched an ungodly amount of cooking videos on **Meddit**.

Agent was the first to emerge from her room, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, her usual Maid dress replaced by a gray jacket and sweatpants with the ARTEMIS symbol stitched into the hood. "yeah, yeah. Hopefully you didn't burn the eggs black this time." She groaned as she shuffled to the kitchen table. Agent decided to use her free time to come up with an anti-tracking system to hide her location from her ex-comrades And Elisa. The imprinting process should have completely disconnected her from the SV mainframe, but she needed to be sure.

OTs-14 was the next in line to emerge from her room. Since her clothing was never really considered 'army looking' she stuck with her usual clothing. Her face however was still fixated on her phone's screen. Over the past few days, OTs-14 had gained a massive amount of popularity inside of multiple Channel chat boards. Mainly because of her charismatic and positive Reponses to her follower's comments. Due to her new fascination, she also became very well versed in channel memes. Which nobody outside of the community really understood.

Zero was the last to exit his room, his eyes were completely tired, and he had bags under his eyes due to lack of sleep. This was thanks to a certain group of ladies who just so happened to live with him. Agent had been the first to try to sneak into his bed in the middle of the night. The next morning had been complete chaos with RFB and OTs-14 after they found Agent cradling Zero in his bed the next morning, swearing they would dismantle Agent in her sleep if she tried 'cheating' again. Zero wasn't completely sure what they meant by 'cheating' but he understood enough, so he didn't even try to defend anyone.

The group ate comfortably afterwards. They mainly talked about their future plans once HQ called them for their next mission, the call would come either that day or the next. RFB had become extremely attached to their new home, so she teared up slightly at the fact they had to leave their taste of peace so soon.

"it can't last forever RFB, we have duties. Plus, this home is thanks to our employment, we can't expect to live here and not do anything to deserve it." OTs-14 rubbed RFB's back slowly as she wiped her partner's tears away.

"I hate to agree, but this really was…. nice, I suppose." Agent leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes. "you're both fairly new to the battlefield but…for me this was a really needed rest."

RFB and OTs-14 lowered their eyes sadly as they realized what Agent meant. As much as they both sometimes disliked Agent, it was true that she had been in the battlefield since the moment of her creation. She knew nothing but combat up until this point.

Zero ate his meal quietly, watching his partners talk about their current feelings until a sudden vibration coming from his leg made him sigh sadly. "looks like it's over." He whispered softly as he pulled out his phone and read the newly received text.

"such is the life in the zone…" whispered OTs-14 to herself before turning off her cellphone's screen.

* * *

 ** _War is hell. You can't photograph a flying bullet, but you can capture genuine fear._**

 ** _Horst Faas_**

* * *

 **INDEX**

WWAPA (Fictional): World Wide Anti-Panic Act. First introduced during the initial days of the rising threat of Sangvis Ferri (pre-war), the act mandated that the media be censored heavily to prevent mass panic due to war acts and heavy losses in unreported skirmishes.

channel (fictional): a website which consists of multiple chat boards and communities. Popularized by young soldiers on the battlefield due to its ease of use and support of multiple languages, as well as its functions to provide anonymity to its users.

ACR: Army of the Czech Republic.

RQ: Code for Red Queen, another name for Elisa within the Sangvis Ferri army.

Meddit (fictional): similar to channel, except with dedicated communities for almost everything and anything. It is more commonly known to the public as well, compared to its counterpart.


	9. Chapter 9

**_ARTEMIS HQ/ 2 hours later._**

"I hope you enjoyed your vacation." Bianco cracked his knuckles and tapped his desk with his index finger 3 times, causing a holographic map to appear in front of him. "let's spare the formalities and get straight to business."

"Understood." Zero saluted and began scanning the holographic map with extreme attention, taking mental notes of the multiple landmarks and locations.

"You're flying up to Germany. You will arrive in Munich in approximately 4 hours, from there, you will meet with a squad of our own, the 48th infantry unit to be exact. Most commonly known as 'the hellfire jumpers', the group consists of 5 men with 2 Dolls per person. I have to warn you though; these guys have a lot of experience under their belt." Bianco began drawing circles in numerous parts of the map, mainly roads connecting Munich to Dresden. "from there, you'll make your way to Dresden and meet up with the Leader of our operations in Germany."

"Yes sir, is there any other information I should know?" Zero asked as he downloaded the modified map using his cellphone.

"no, that will be all. You fly out in 30, report to flight pad 12 when you're ready." Bianco replied, taking a cigar out from his suit's breast pocket and lighting it quickly.

"understood." Zero saluted and bowed politely before exiting the room.

* * *

 ** _ARTEMIS HQ/ outside of Bianco's office._**

"welcome back, are we good for deployment?" Agent asked as she twirled the blonde hair of her disguise's wig. She was leaning against a pillar near the door to Bianco's office. RFB and OTs-14 were seating opposite to her on some chairs.

Zero sighed and stretched his arms slightly.

"yeah, we head out in 30. I suggest you 2 go down to the barracks and stock up on travel goods and ammo." He said as he turned towards RFB and OTs-14. "as for you…I'm not entirely sure how your weaponry works." He continued, returning his gaze back to Agent.

"don't worry about me, I already got the necessary materials. I also took the opportunity to modify my weapons to make them impossible to recognize, you'll see them in action soon enough." She replied as she moved away from the pillar.

RFB and OTs-14 nodded at his orders and entered a nearby elevator.

Agent and Zero waved them goodbye before heading down the stairs to the Flight deck in the area next to the main HQ.

"hopefully they don't spend all of our funds." Agent whispered to Zero, elbowing him on the side playfully as they descended the stairs.

"I don't think RFB is that suicidal. If she so much as dared as spend an extra credit you would tear her apart." Zero laughed lightly and rubbed the back of his hair.

The rest of the way down was rather peaceful, Bianco's office was at the 50th floor of the building, with the armory being on the ground level. Agent and Zero decided to take the stairs to put in some exercise before having to sit inside of a helicopter for hours.

* * *

 ** _27 minutes later/ flight pad._**

[ ** _all personnel steer clear of landing pad R-77, I repeat. All personnel steer clear of landing pad R-77, bird incoming.]_**

Zero and the group moved away from the landing area along with the rest of the mechanics around them. a NI-I90 TTH helicopter appeared from the horizon and swiftly maneuvered itself into a more comfortable landing position, landing into its designated spot shortly after.

Once the dust settled and the safety lights were brought back to their green states, Zero and the group moved closer to the helicopter.

A young woman emerged from the pilot's door, she looked no older than 15, her hair was almost entirely black with the exception of a deep crimson streak on her left bang, which covered the left side of her face completely. From what he could see, Zero could tell that the woman had an augmented eye, most likely a transplant due to a combat injury. The eye itself was a marvel to look at. The iris of the visible eye was a beautiful shade of light blue, much like the sky above them. The woman's hair was also surprisingly well-kept, it flowed with the wind almost a little too perfectly, as if it was weightless. To Zero's surprise, the woman also was not wearing military gear or armor, instead, the woman was wearing a casual hoodie with a cat design stitched into the back with pink thread.

"you're my pickup right?" the woman asked as she moved closer to the group, a piece of paper tightly gripped on her right hand. "mind signing this?" she continued, handing Zero the paper.

Zero carefully read the paper before signing it. The paper itself was nothing more than a check-in paper, stating that Zero did indeed make contact with her. "I've never had to sign something like this before, are you a new pilot perhaps?" he asked politely, handing her the paper back.

The woman ignored his question and took the paper back. "we fly out in 10, I have to go stock up on some supplies and tools, ill be back soon. Just wait inside the- "she was suddenly stopped by Agent's hand on her shoulder.

Agent stared at the woman with an overflowing amount of irritation and anger, her eyes turning a slight shade of red. "I believe my commander asked you a question, Shrimp."

RFB and OTs-14's eyes went wide as the horn of her hairband began to grow slightly, indicating that she was beginning the phases of transition into combat mode. The slowly reached for the rifles but were stopped shortly after by Zero.

The woman turned around slightly, scanning Agent up and down with her augmented eye. "indeed, he did, and I did not answer."

Zero quickly placed his hand on Agent's back and quickly diffused the situation. "it's fine, let's not make a scene. If people find out about you, we're all dead."

Agent looked back at him and nodded before letting go of the woman's shoulder. The horns on her hairband retracting immediately. "tch, lucky bitch."

The woman chuckled and gave Agent's insult no mind. She quickly disappeared into the HQ building shortly after.

* * *

The group wasted no time and boarded the helicopter. RFB and OTs-14 took the seats in front of Zero since Agent had immediately claimed the seat by his side as soon as her feet touched the metal of the helicopter's floor.

"this is ridiculous!" RFB whined as she kicked her feet up into the air like a child having an extreme fit. "you're hogging him! This is abuse!"

OTs-14 nodded slightly but remained calm. "I agree, you've not left his side for days. It is extremely important for us both to bond with him as well, our combat effectiveness relies on our neural and emotional connection with our users after all."

Agent grinned slightly and moved closer to Zero, who was inspecting some in-flight safety manuals while everyone else argued. "so, if I keep this up, you'll both eventually become useless? Oh my, I finally found a way to kill off the competition."

RFB and OTs-14's faces turned completely pale as Agent's gaze turned from playful to full-blown predatory.

"is what I would say if I wasn't one of you." She sighed as she smiled slightly at her companions. "I'll give you guys more time with him, my apologies."

RFB nearly fainted while OTs-14's mouth almost dropped to the floor.

"s-s-she smiled AND apologized! There's something wrong with her! Hackers!" RFB shouted as she covered her face to hide her slightly blushed cheeks.

"pigs just might fly this day." OTs-14 whispered to herself.

The group then continued to talk about battlefield tactics and reloading strategies and methods for a couple of minutes, the pilot returned shortly after.

"well, time to say goodbye to this place. We're heading off to Munich." She said out loud before entering the helicopter and strapping herself in.

* * *

 ** _4 hours, 27 minutes later. / Munich, Germany._**

The arrival went smoother than expected, the flight had been very pleasant with a few exceptions when turbulence woke up the group. ARTEMIS's base in Germany was very well kept, multiple helpers came to help the group with their belongings once they touched down. The group had been assigned a translator and a guide as well. Which caught Zero by surprise.

"excuse me, is my transport here yet?" Zero asked as he looked around the never-ending line of Military vehicles in front of the landing area.

"it is already here sir, your transport is waiting in parking space D-99" the guide responded as he handed Zero a small, orange envelope. "here is a map of the country and a couple of key phrases in German in case you become lost and do not have a translator with you."

Zero nodded and took the envelope, he then quickly gave it to RFB who neatly inserted the envelope into their travel bag. "anything else I should know before I head out?"

The translator stopped in his tracks and opened up a holographic map using his smartphone. "the currency exchange In Germany changed recently due to the increasing amount of damage to the major cities, it currently went from 3 Euros per credit to 0.50 Euros per credit. The Country is in a major economic stand-still thanks to the nonstop SV attacks on the Polish borders. All resources are currently going into military funding."

Zero nodded and bowed politely before shaking the man's hand. "understood, thank you for the info. We're heading off now."

* * *

 ** _10 minutes later._**

Zero walked in a straight line reading off the markers on the ground for each individual parking space. The line of vehicles never seemed to end. "D-90, D-95, D-98, and finally D99. Found it."

An armored APC vehicle towered over Zero and his companions as they turned to face the parked vehicle, Zero had seen multiple APC's during his time at the academy but this monstrosity of a vehicle did not fit the general look of an APC at all, if anything, the vehicle looked like a bulletproof tower than anything.

a small hatch on top of the vehicle suddenly swung open as an elderly looking man popped his head out to face the group. "you um…the Spec Ops guy I'm waiting for?" the man asked as he scratched his beard slightly.

"yes, are you my pickup from the 48th?" Zero replied.

"that I am, yes. This here is Madonna, the love of my life. Please dust off your boots before you enter my lovely, would you?" the man slapped the top of the vehicle and smiled wide with pride. "I never managed to pass the Commander aptitude test so I'm just a mechanic, but I make due."

 ** _On the road/ 2 hours until estimated contact with the 48th unit_**

"you're awfully young to be Spec Ops. You got some decease that makes you look younger or somethin'?" the man driving the vehicle asked without moving his eyes away from the road in front of them. The APC didn't have any windows except for the driver's area, so the group had no idea why the road had suddenly turned extremely bumpy after leaving the base.

"no, I was chosen during my graduation at the academy." Zero responded politely as he read the multiple emergency phrases that the translator had given to him.

"ah…you one of those war kids aren't you." The elderly man looked down slightly before returning his gaze back to the road. "they trained you since you were a kid, didn't they?"

"for the most part, yes. My father worked for G&K as a R&D researcher, I didn't know my mother however." RFB and OTs-14 turned their eyes towards him as he spoke. "my father wasn't exactly around much either, my sister and I were taken care of by our C-Doll."

Agent, who was still in disguise, turned her gaze to the floor and held her hands together.

"where do you come from exactly." The driver asked with a serious look.

"Sector 14" Zero responds without lifting his eyes from the papers he's reading.

'THE sector 14? You're a **CBS** then ain't you." the driver responds as his eyes go wide in surprise.

"CBS? Is that some sort of code I'm not familiar with?" Zero asks, turning his eyes to the driver.

"Code Black Survivor, You're a rare bunch. A lot of people in the force don't believe you guys even exist. Or Sector 14 for the matter." OTs-14 narrowed her eyes in thought as the driver's words began to echo in her head.

"why would that be?" OTs-14 asked the driver.

"well, Sector 14 vanished. It's gone, completely. There were no remains, no buildings, nothing. Just one big ass crater where a city was supposed to be." The driver responded, looking back at her.

"a bomb?" RFB asked while looking at her companion.

"no, they studied the area using satellite pictures but there was no damage to the surrounding area. If it was a nuke, there would have been a lot of damage to the surrounding forests and rivers. But there was nothing." The driver opened up his phone and showed the girls a picture of a crater. "see?"

Agent didn't dare to look up at the picture, she remembered meeting Zero during her recon mission inside of the city, she had been there to scan out the layout of the place and bring an end to every life in the area.

The vehicle came to a stop and the driver turned off the engine, signaling the group that they had arrived at their destination. "we're here, please put on the gasmasks you see hanging by the door. And for your girlies, you got to put on those coats over there." The man ordered, pointing at the hanging coats on the left side of the vehicle.

"what will we need this for?" OTs-14 asked as she began putting on her coat.

"acid rain." The driver responded before putting on a mask and a coat himself. "he'll be okay, he's got something in his bloodstream that makes him immune to it, it's a common practice for Spec Ops to be Genetically spliced to survive harsh environments in the battlefield."

"I don't remember that ever happening to me." Zero responded as he looked at him.

"you wouldn't, the procedure itself is a close guarded secret of IOP's so you were probably asleep during the whole thing." The driver responded as he opened the back doors of the APC. "welcome to my playground." The man shouted as he raised his hands into the air proudly.

The surrounding area was entirely dead to say the least, it looked like a post-apocalyptic scene from an old zombie movie, cars and trucks were turned upside down or abandoned, clothing and skeletons littered the surrounding area with abandoned homes showing clear signs of fire damage. This place had been a massacre.

"when did this happen?" Zero asked as he traces the bullet holes of the side of a house nearby.

"3 days ago." The Driver responded as he walked past him calmly.

"3 days ago? I find that hard to believe, these bodies have completely decayed, there's no blood or skin left." Zero answered as he pointed to the nearby skeleton of what seemed to be an infant inside of a mud-filled ditch.

"the rain burned all that away, it killed the injured by tearing them apart. It sucks for us too because, I shit you not, bullets actually melt mid-air. So, everything so far has been CQC combat." The Driver continued as he walked past the skeletons of a grown man with a semi-melted rifle on what used to be his hand. "thankfully the suits are resistant to all this shit."

"suits?" the group asked in unison.

"you'll see soon enough." The driver responded in an excited tone.

* * *

OTs-14 closed her eyes as the droplets of rain created small, audible thuds on her hood which calmed her slightly. The sight of death was beginning to get to her, nature had no leash, it had no remorse. It took babies, children, families and animals without a second thought.

"you okay? You look a little troubled." RFB asked as she tugged on OTs-14's coat, which caused her to look down at her.

"sorry, this whole thing just seems familiar to me somehow." OTs-14 replied as she moved closer to her companion. Her Commander and the driver from earlier were a few steps ahead, talking about the situation that occurred.

"I'm not sure how that's possible, we're new models so we shouldn't have any memories about combat or…death for the matter." RFB replied, looking slightly worried as she noticed OTs-14's face become more troubled by her answer.

"do you think it's possible for someone to lock our memories away from us? I'm not entirely convinced that this came from a manufacturing error." OTs-14 raised her palm and slowly traced the scar on the left side of her face with her index finger.

"we have company." Agent announced from behind them. She pushed OTs-14 and RFB forward as bullets flew past the places they were standing.

Zero stretched out his hand in front of him which caused his SR-25 to materialize in an explosion of bright sparks. The Driver did the same and quickly grabbed the MK-17 rifle that appeared in front of him. "bullets won't even hit them past 70 meters, they know this most likely so they're using high velocity rounds to makeup for the distance." The driver yelled as he ran into a nearby building, taking cover in the attic.

"keep an eye out for Jaegers!" Zero ordered as he brought the scope of his rifle up to his eye, scanning the area in front of them shortly after. Multiple SV Dolls were in the forest directly in front of them, a couple of Ripper units were taking cover under a turned-over truck. To their northeast was a group of Goliath squads, Zero stopped as his scope zoomed closer at the Goliaths. "they're using shields to protect themselves from the rain, it'll make them slower but they're our biggest problem right now." He whispered to himself.

[you may be resistant to the rain, but if your gasmask gets damaged, you're done kid, take one whiff of the air around here and you'll be deader than shit.] the driver spoke over the radio. Multiple gunshots could be hear around the area, friendly backup had most likely arrived.

Agent had grabbed a DMR rifle from inside the APC without telling anyone, she was near a window, shooting at the Ripper units that were closing in on them from the tree line.

"what happened to your guns?" Zero shouted over the gunfire to be heard.

"can't use them here, it'll bring too much attention." She shouted back as she slapped a new magazine into her rifle.

RFB quickly ran from person to person, giving them ammo as necessary while OTs-14 used her infrared scope to call out units and their positions.

[get down! They've got a railgun!] the Driver shouted over the radio before a colossal roar caused everyone to cover their ears.

OTs-14 and RFB were the first to dive into the ground, Zero watched as an extremely bright flash came closer and closer to them, tearing trees and rocks out of the ground, flinging them into the air.

Agent threw the rifle to the floor and began sprinting to Zero's side, the roaring of the enemy weapon becoming more deafening by the second.


	10. Chapter 10

_**It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.**_

 ** _Nikola Tesla_**

* * *

Read more at: topics/evolution

Zero covered his eyes as the brightness of the incoming energy beam began to hurt his vision. He could hear the screams of OTs-14 and RFB from downstairs, they were desperately calling his name as they rushed up the stairs. Another pair of footsteps echoed through the room as Agent came closer and closer, attempting to be quicker than the incoming danger.

"Damn it! Move faster!" cried out Agent as she began cracking the floor below her with her feet, attempting to gain as much momentum as she possible could.

The house began to shake as the beam touched the ground, digging a massive line in its path to its target.

Multiple beads of sweat began to form on Zero's forehead as the heat of the incoming laser swept over the room. Zero closed his eyes and dropped to his knees.

 ** _"_** So, this is it."

"Don't give up!" Agent cried out as she began getting closer, her footsteps a lot more audible now over the deafening roar of the laser beam.

"I'm sorry. Marina."

* * *

[ ** _System temperature critical, mobility module damage inevitable.]_**

" _Override_!" shouted Agent inside her head.

[ ** _Understood, safety locks disengaged.]_**

" _Only one more second, that's all I need. Please don't lock up on me_!" Agent yelled as she came a step away from her partner's side.

Agent pressed her foot down on the wooden floor as hard as she could to propel herself to shield Zero's body. RFB and OT-s 14 had just managed to get to the top floor with them, horror and panic on their faces.

And then, time stopped.

The deafening roaring of the incoming energy beam fell silent in a split second. The room's heat dissipated without warning, everything still like winter ice. Her companion's expressions were frozen transitioning between expressions.

" _I see you are doing your best to protect him. Thank you. Companions such as you are the best thing for him."_ A female voice spoke from behind Agent, who was frozen solid mid-stride. " _I believe this is our first meeting."_

Agent ground her teeth, doing her best to turn and face the possibly enemy, with little success. " _Who are you? What did you do_?"

Soft footsteps crept closer up from behind, and she wondered if the enemy was barefoot. In this terrain? _"I had to borrow some of your core's energy, don't worry, I left you with sufficient energy to recover in a short time."_

Agent gasped, her chest tightening with every imagined breath. " _When…did you hack me_?"

The unknown woman giggled and placed a finger on Agent's back. " _I can give you this for now, to help you protect him, but it will have grave consequences for your body. Do you want this power?"_

"Yes." Agent responded almost immediately, without any hesitation.

The unknown woman remained silent for a several seconds, moving closer to Agent, and placing both of her hands on the back of Agent's head. " _Looks like you have my approval after all."_

Agent squinted and making one more attempt to look back at the voice. " _Approval_?"

 _"You'll understand someday. Please take care of him. This is the last I can do with my remaining energy. I leave him in your hands."_ Replied the voice; Agent couldn't help but notice the small delay in-between her words. The other person was crying.

 ** _New system weaponry activated._**

 ** _access to AEGIS permitted, system green._**

 ** _access to APOLLO granted, system green._**

 ** _temporary access to ALPHA protocol, granted._**

"Who are you…" Agent whispered to the voice as multiple prompts filled her vision.

" _It's best no-one finds out. Goodbye. take care of yourselves."_ Whispered the voice before fading into the unknown.

* * *

Agent found herself midair as time resumed its natural flow, the heat reminded her of the incoming doom. However, Agent realized she was moving faster than everything else around her.

OTs-14 and RFB seemed to run in slow motion towards Zero's body, the splinters of broken wood began to float in midair like snowflakes in the winter sky. Thousands of pieces of shattered glass began to form into clusters. Agent ignored the pain of her synthetic skin being torn apart as her body darted past the literal wall of floating glass.

"System core override! Limiter deactivation code green!" Agent shouted as she wrapped Zero's limp body around her lift arm, while lifting her right-hand directory in front of her.

" _Huh? Wait, I'm not moving my body_!" Agent's panicked exclamation coming inside her head, instead of from her lips.

Agent watched as her right hand began to open wide, expanding her fingers into a 'grabbing position' by themselves.

 _"Aegis. come to me."_ Another voice came from Agent's mouth.

* * *

 ** _234 meters away from the combat zone/ Unit 48 'Hell Jumpers'_**

"Make sure those ammo packs are full! I don't need accidents on the zone!" Shouted a soldier clad in an IOP uniform with multiple medals and ribbons decorating the green uniform's left breast.

Another soldier close by, this one wearing a red uniform with CADPAT pattern, barked at a group pf soldiers reloading their magazines. "Yes, sir! You heard the zombie people! Move your asses!"

The surrounding soldiers broke into a laughing fit before returning to their work.

"What the hell did you just call me?" The angered IOP operative hissed to the soldier in red camo.

"Zombie, undead, the living dead, plenty of names for it old man." Snickered the CADPAT soldier.

"Don't think you can disrespect your superiors just because you're mercenaries! You all would be nothing if not for the business that we give ARTEMIS!" The IOP operative proceeded to grab the other soldier by the collar of his uniform, bringing his face close to his. "Say something funny again and I'll end you, you understand me Kris? Your position as leader of this damned unit won't save you from a battlefield 'accident', my escort's aim sometimes likes to mess up and aim for the back of assholes' heads."

"Ok, ok." Kris sighed. "Look old man, I'll give it to you straight." Shaking his head, Kris slid a hand towards his pockets. "The 48th doesn't follow orders from anyone other than Bianco himself. You being here is completely pointless."

"Why you!" The IOP operative raised his hand in the air, ready to bring down on Kris's face. His hand was stopped by a tall, blonde soldier. Extremely muscular, his uniform had been torn in some places to be able to accommodate his body, mainly his sleeves. The blonde soldier's dark brown eyes began to dig into the IOP representative, holding him in place.

"Hitting one of the Hounds is a death sentence, you know?" Whispered the blonde soldier into the IOP operative's ear, causing him to shudder.

"H-h-he's one of the Hounds!?" The IOP operative fell to the ground, cowering, seemingly unaware that dirt and mud dulled the golden shine of his medals.

The dulled retort of two silenced gunshots came from behind Kris's right ear. The IOP operative and his escort slumped, dead, a steady stream of crimson flowing from small holes in the center of their foreheads, brain matter leaking out to mix with the soil.

"You know Seven, you could definitely work on your socializing skills." Kris laughed to himself before turning around to face the source of the gunfire.

A woman stood firm, she was medium sized, breaking into 5 feet tall. a silenced HK45 handgun in her right hand, aimed at the ground, a decorated scarf wrapped around her neck it's pattern giving the impression that she swore a devilish smile. Long silver hair flowed in the wind behind her.

"Annoying." Seven whispered before returning her silenced handgun to the holster on her hip, her expression conveying both disgust and anger.

"Hey Four, remind me why Seven is like this again?" Kris asked as he began to slap the dirt off his uniform.

"Her body rejected the transplant at first, they had to operate on her brain to make her nerves come into sync with the targeting module." The blonde soldier responded before flexing his muscles as hard as he could, ripping his uniform even further. "Too bad she'll never have the emotional capability to understand MY STRENGTH."

Kris tilted his head, a comical drop of sweat began to form behind his head. "Please don't do that anymore, that's your thirty-second replacement, you'll go broke just from buying replacement uniforms."

"NONSENSE!" The blonde soldier bellowed as he flexed even harder, his muscles continuing to expand, veins now appearing all over his skin. "A man does not need CLOTHES! Only his strength and a loving pet back at home! Women get in the way of my practice HOURS!"

"What does that even have to do with what I just said…" The bead of sweat behind Kris's head growing even larger.

"Seven! You must eat all your rations! You'll never become a worthy woman with that excuse of a body!" Four said as he pointed his extremely muscular index finger at the growling woman.

"Freak." Seven muttered loudly before turning and disappearing into a nearby tent. Four followed suit and headed out to help a nearby soldier lift crates of explosives and other supplies.

"Sheesh, if only Six was here." Kris sighed before looking towards the forest ahead.

Gunfire and the loud roar of a rail gun stopping his thoughts dead. Then silence, a fly that had been flying in front of his face had somehow now seemingly 'teleported' to his arm, he didn't see it move, one second it was there and the next it wasn't.

"The hell…" Kris whispered to himself before a black beam of light shot up into the sky. The clouds parted and what seemed to be a tear in the sky began to form, a gigantic machine unlike anything he'd ever seen began to appear from seemingly nowhere. Almost alien in build, the machine became more visible as the railgun shot began to fade unable to pierce it.

Shortly after, the ground began to shake as a giant wall of what seemed to be cannons began to form near the old abandoned houses not too far from Kris's location.

"What the hell is that!" Screamed an ARTEMIS soldier in horror as the shaking ground prevented him from rising to his feet.

"Is that some sort of SF secret weapon!? There's no way we can make it out of here before that thing blows us into nothingness!" Exclaimed another as he took cover behind a bundle of empty supply boxes.

"We got trouble!" Four called out as loud as he could to be heard over the panic around him, multiple soldiers began to crawl and stumble to his location in search of orders.

"….Pretty." Seven spoke softly as she gazed at the tower of black light in front of her.


	11. Chapter 11

**_Extra chapter:_**

 ** _Monochrome rainfall_**

The constant ringing in my left ear woke me up from my peaceful slumber, shaking my head as I slowly lift my head from my pillow I slowly begin to take in my surroundings. Same green-gray wallpaper, the floor is still wooden, an extremely dark shade of brown mind you, which I find extremely disgusting.

"…Ugly." I whisper to myself as I slowly stretch and drop my warm feet from under the covers on the cold, merciless, extremely ugly wooden floor. As soon as my body finally becomes straight once I lift myself up, my silver hair begins to hungrily eat away at my field of vision, covering my face almost completely.

I sigh.

"I guess…I'll have to cut it." I speak to myself once again before slowly blowing the hair away from my face with a few swift blows of wind using my mouth. I look down at the floor once my field of vision has been restored.

Silence.

Silence so silent in fact that sometimes I swear I can hear my own heartbeat and my blood running through my veins.

I shake my head to rid myself of unnecessary thoughts and swiftly exit my room once I slip into my usual attire. A gray hoodie with pink patches of fur on the hood and a somewhat stylish skirt, long enough to cover everything it has to but remain short enough to allow my legs some breathing room.

This morning marks my twenty-third day in this building, once my surgery was completed I was allowed three days of recovery. Once those days expired I was immediately transported to a different living complex, this building was extremely large for the minute amount of people that it harbored. In all my time in here so far, I have never seen more than twenty people at most.

One of them, a blonde, extremely muscular 'man'. I refuse to acknowledge him as a human being since all he ever does is exercise and bother others about their calorie intake and extremely 'skeletal' appearance. Sad to think I was put into the same unit as him. We know him as Four.

The other was a younger man, this one being a bit more sophisticated. His hair was an unnatural shade of black, almost too black to be black if I say so myself. It reminded me of the endless void I always found myself in every time I closed my eyes at night. It creeps me out. He isn't a steroid monster like Four but does have a decently well-kept physical appearance. Surprisingly however, the guy isn't so bad. We know him as Six, none of us really remember our names from before, but we make do with the new 'identifiers' we were given once our unit was assembled.

Six adores reading, he likes reading cheesy romance stories and old novels written in old Shakespearian English. We don't really understand where his fascination came from. He sometimes quotes lines from _Macbeth_ and _Othello_ during combat. We don't know why.

And we don't really want to know.

The last person I recognize is Kris, our 'limiter' of sorts. He doesn't really fight, but he gives us orders and logistical support from the sidelines. From what we've heard from high command, and Bianco himself, he is an extremely gifted tactician and leader. Nobody really knows where he came from.

I don't recognize the last person, she's tall and extremely elegant. Her red hair completely steals away the attention of everyone in the room. I'm often told I'm extremely cold and vacant because of my lack of emotions but…she's something else.

She never really 'looks' at people, she glares at everything with an icy, void look. As if she couldn't bother to regard your existence from that of an ant on the floor. She's always dressed in the same clothes, a black skin-tight shirt paired with our standard issue combat pants and boots. If it wasn't for the fact that she doesn't look approachable, I would mistake her for a common lady of the night.

"Good…morning." I say quietly as I approach the group of people.

Four is the first to turn around, an irritating smile on his face. "good morning to you too, Seven. Have you followed the workout procedure I left stapled to your door?"

I place my index finger on my chin in thought. "I do not…keep trash in my room." I respond, thinking back to a couple of minutes earlier. A note had indeed dropped to the floor once I exited my room.

 ** _To Seven,_**

 ** _"I gift this to thee in desires of kindling a new flame inside thy heart towards the life of a ton'd corse"_**

I stared the piece of paper for a solid minute before ripping it to shreds.

"The fact Six helped you write that…disgusts me." I shoot an icy glare at Four, who recoils back almost immediately.

"In my defense, Four did say he would stop pestering me about trying his new protein shakes if I helped him write that letter." Six said from behind the book he was reading. A few drops of sweat visible on his forehead.

"Dully…noted." I reply, sighing as I shuffle my way to the kitchen in search of some nourishment.

Four noticed this and slowly followed me from behind, a box full of vitamin pills and bodybuilding products behind his back.

"Would you like to try my ne-!"

I didn't let him finish the sentence. Before he could even touch me, I had already spun around, firing three warning shots in quick succession between his legs using my silenced HK45 handgun.

"Do not approach me…freak." I hiss at him before returning my handgun to its holster.

A yellow puddle quickly forming under his feet as he looks around in search of assistance from anyone.

I take note of this and cover my mouth and nose using one of my jacket's sleeves. "…Disgusting."

* * *

I close my eyes and open the fridge, pulling out a glass of iced coffee.

My time here isn't so bad, I am paid well, and am given a purpose along with a paycheck.

What else could I ask for?

"I'm going to the downtown district to get some supplies for next week's mission, will you come with me, Seven?" asks a voice from behind me. Thankfully, it doesn't belong to Four.

"Sure…when do you want to leave." I reply, attempting my hardest to not sound as monotone as usual. Kris is a decent person in comparison to everyone else, he doesn't try pushing my buttons to get reactions out of me or invade my personal space. He mainly keeps to himself, a trait that I've grown to embrace during our short time together as squad mates. He is pretty good friends with Four though, which scares me sometimes because I really don't want the only person that doesn't bother me in this place to turn into another steroid demon.

I also liked being around him for another reason.

He was normal.

Unlike Four and Six, Kris was a very average person. Many others saw this as an undesirable trait, but I found it to be an excellent trait of his. Due to my lack of emotions I relied heavily on imitation to appear as normal as possible in public. Mainly to not be rude to others without meaning to.

* * *

 ** _20 minutes later/ business district._**

"Shaving cream, sanitary pads, bandages, cleaning alcohol…. I think we have everything." Kris remarks loudly, shoving one of his fists into the air in victory.

I sigh softly and let out a miniscule smile before looking back at the list in his hands. "We still need to ingredients of tonight's dinner."

"T-true, I knew that. You wound me, thinking I'm so forgetful." Kris slowly backs away and covers his chest with his hands, faking a face of great pain.

I roll my eyes and place a thumb on the safety of my holstered handgun. "Unless you want another wound…I suggest you start moving, 'leader'"

"You got it!" he responds before rushing off into the growing crowd around the food stands.

"Idiot…" I whisper to myself before swiping right hand in front of me in an upward motion, causing a hologram to form in front of me. The face of a blonde maid begins to appear shortly after.

[ ** _G36 here, what can I do for you Number Seven?]_** the Doll answers from the other side of the hologram.

"We will be returning shortly…please make sure my clothes are washed and folded before we get home." I reply, attempting my hardest to imitate a friendly smile.

[ ** _Y-yes ma'am, MG3 and I have already packed your clothes for your next mission. I hope you don't mind.]_** the Doll replies, a slight hint of fear and stress in her voice.

I let out an audible sigh, rubbing my forehead with my thumb and index finger. "Very well…thank you both."

[ ** _N-no problem ma'am! Let us know if we can do anything else for you.]_** G36 and MG3 squeak in fear begore quickly hanging up from the other side of the hologram.

I frown at their quick retreat and look down slightly. "You don't have to be so scared…" I whisper to myself before swiping my hand downward, causing the hologram to disappear.

"They get scared easily, don't mind them." Says a voice from behind me.

I unholster my handgun and spin around, kicking the unknown person in the knee, causing them to fall into a kneeling position in front of me.

I shove the tip of my handgun into the forehead of the person.

"Who are you." I ask quietly, not bothering to mask my usual monotone voice. Multiple strands of cold sweat begin to come into existence around my brow as the man refuses to answer, instead, choosing to stare at the ground below him. Pedestrians stop and stare, traffic suddenly comes to a halt.

 ** _They're watching you._**

My eyes begin to slowly dart around the scene, finding something to latch my attention to in order to escape the prying eyes of the public.

 ** _They're scared._**

My hands begin to shake, the once steel-tight grip on my handgun suddenly loosens. A deep nausea begins to faulter my stance, I wobble slightly from side to side, trying my hardest to maintain contact with the target in front of me.

"I just wanted to visit you." The man whispers quietly under his breath. Upon closer inspection I can see that the man is in his mid-40's at most. Short brown hair, well-kept, an expensive looking watch along with a golden frame pair of glasses. The man is tall, if it wasn't for my earlier takedown he would probably be towering over me.

"Do I…know you." I ask as I remove my handgun from the man's forehead.

"Not anymore, I suppose." The man replies. He tilts his head up slightly to face me, a sudden shudder crawls up my spine slowly as I begin to explore his features even further. His delicate looking green eyes are now covered by a small cloud of tears. "I never expected you to…accept their offer."

My lower lip begins to quiver.

My feet are shaking.

 ** _They're sad._**

"G-get away from me…" I shudder as I whisper the words to the man staring at me.

For the first time in my recorded memory…I am afraid.

My breath begins to cut short as the eyes of the crying man begin to dig into me, past my emotionless exterior, past my dormant emotions, past my secrets.

Straight into my core.

"We just want you to come home." The man pleads as his tears begin to become much more numerous. I fall to the ground and begin to shake my head in denial as multiple images begin to flash in my head. A child, hand in hand with a man and a woman I cannot recognize.

Yet something deep inside, screams that I should.

I bring my knees up to my chest and hug them tightly, using them as a shield against the outside world. My heart races as the crowd begins to move closer and closer.

"I am afraid that will not be possible, Seven does not have any relations to you sir. I'm going to have to ask you to return to your home."

I lift my head and stare at the man in front of me, shielding me from the crowd.

"Four…" I whisper quietly to myself. I never imagined I would ever feel relief from staring at his inhumanly muscular back. I guess pigs might just fly today.

The situation comes under control rather quickly after that, in a matter of minutes Kris is contacted and rushed back to my side, cursing himself for leaving me alone in the center of the biggest section of this district. Four deals with the unknown man, after a few minutes of talking and numerous explanations, the man finally leaves.

On the way back to our housing building, I couldn't help but notice that Four's usual smile is nowhere to be seen. Instead, replaced by a vacant look, one of discomfort and deep thought.

Was he…used to dealing with situations like this?

"Let's go home." He says to me in a friendly tone, extending his massive hand to me.

"Yeah." I reply, taking his hand onto mine.

"Hey, Seven." Four asks without facing me.

"Yes?" I reply, turning my gaze slightly to face him as we walk.

"Do you really not remember anything." He asks bluntly, not bothering to stop to study my reaction.

"I…I don't know." I reply, turning my head slightly from him.

 ** _And I don't know why._**


	12. Chapter 12

**_ARTEMIS Camp._**

"What the hell is that?" Kris whispered to himself as he reached for the binoculars slung around his neck. Multiple shapes could be seen being flung into the air in the distance.

"Are those…" asked an ARTEMIS soldier out loud as he adjusted his binoculars closer to his forehead, beads of cold sweat beginning to form on his face.

"Manticores." Answered Four from behind Kris, his tone a mixture of concern and fear. "Those things weigh tons, there's no way a normal weapon is doing that." He continued before turning around to face the gathered troops.

Kris cleared his throat and turned around. The faces of the soldiers around him were mortified, scared beyond what he thought imaginable for battle tested soldiers like these. His unit was by no means soft, these men and women had seen hell and more on their missions leading to here. But what they had just witnessed was the equivalent of a nuke exploding right in front of them. The explosion had shaken the entire area for miles ahead. "Listen up, our primary objective has been changed. Our new objective is to assist whoever is at the location of that beam, Bianco contacted us a couple of days ago telling us that a member of the Spec Ops unit was being sent here for backup. The only road here goes all the way back to that beam." He ordered as he crossed his arms behind his back in an authoritative manner.

"You're telling us to head towards that thing!? That's suicide!" Protested a soldier from the front row.

"Are you a rookie, soldier?" Asked a female voice from behind the crowd. Kris was well aware of who it was judging from the reaction the soldiers had. As soon as the voice was heard, every soldier lifted their heads and proceeded to salute in unison.

"Nice of you to finally join us on a mission." Four said as a red-haired woman cut through the crowd as if it was melted butter.

"I am not here to join you, I am here to make sure this retrieval doesn't end in failure." Responded the woman in a monotone voice similar to Seven's, the only difference being that the voice of this woman was much more isolated, almost as if she was talking to nobody. "Gale, your squad will make haste for the location using our HMMWV's, am I clear?"

The soldier who protested earlier nodded strongly. "Understood! You heard her people, Squad 2 on me!" he shouted as picking up his gear and began running towards the parked vehicles.

"Why do they always listen to you?" Kris joked as the red-haired woman crossed her arms.

"A lot of these men and women had to get through me before being accepted into this unit, only a fool would forget the horrors of their initiation." She responded with a distant gaze. "Squads 1 and 3 are to provide backup to squad 2. Get moving." She ordered without turning around, the soldiers behind her quickly turning around after receiving their orders and getting to work.

* * *

 ** _3 hours later/ Inside helicopter heading back to Sicily._**

The red-haired woman crossed her legs as she studied the bodies laid out on the medical beds in front of her. Their chests heaved up and down slowly and steadily; they were alive. How, she did not know. Once her troops arrived to the location of the beam of light all nothing but a barren land was left where a forest once stood.

"OTs-14 and RFB." The woman commented to herself as she read their diagnostics on the mounted screen in the helicopter, multiple wires and plugs were connected to their bodies to make sure their internals didn't fail. "And who are you, I wonder." She whispered as her gaze shifted towards the person in the middle, holding tight to the man to her right, a ripped dress was all that was left of her clothes, OTs-14 and RFB had faired much better with only scratches and minor cuts to their clothes, but this Doll had been heavily damaged.

* * *

Zero began to open his eyes slowly as his strength began to sink back into him, Agent was to his left, her clothes destroyed near completely; she was clinging tightly to him, so tight, in fact, that she left small bruises in his arm where she was holding on.

"Welcome back to the world of the living." A monotone voice called out from the darkness around him.

"Where am I?" Zero asked as he sat up on the medic bed.

"A helicopter on its way back to Sicily." Responded the female voice. "The mission was compromised thanks to your little stunt."

"Are you with ARTEMIS too?" Zero asked quietly as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light.

"Yes." The woman responded almost instantly. "Leader of the Hounds."

"You're Naomi Crimson, aren't you?" Zero asked as the form of the red-headed woman began to become clearer in the moonlight. "Crimson isn't your actual last name, I know. You're a legend amongst students in the academy."

"You're correct, it isn't. it's a stupid nickname the soldiers gave me and it just kind of stuck around. Now everyone thinks that's my name." Naomi responded. "We should be arriving in about 2 hours, I suggest you sleep for the time being."

"Where is the rest of your unit?" Zero asked as he turned slightly to check up on his own companions, he let a sigh of relief when he found them.

"The movements of my unit do not concern you, we only report to Bianco and nobody else." The crimson haired woman replied coldly.

"I see." Zero bowed slightly in apology. "I wasn't aware of how your unit operates, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize." The woman replied. "I will deal with the report once we get back, you and your companions will be dropped off near your apartment, I already received the address from your documentation."

"What about you, what will you do after this?" Zero asked as he began putting on a new shirt.

"I have units to test and recruits to beat into shape." The woman sighed, annoyed. "The Hounds are capable enough to be able to finish their missions without me."

"I'm sure they would like to see you around every now and then." Zero suggested.

"Appearances are unnecessary in our line of work, we work in secrecy, far more than you do." Naomi looked out the window and placed a strand of her crimson hair behind her ear. "They aren't children anymore; I shouldn't have to guide them by the hand."

* * *

 ** _5 day later/ Apartment complex._**

"Breakfast is ready!" Called out a voice from the kitchen, two doors opened one after the other as soon as the smell of crispy bacon began to travel through the air.

OTs-14 was the first to exit her room, her abdomen covered by bandages and tape to keep her wounds from opening again. Despite being machines, their skin was bio-synthetic, which allowing for similar functions to real human's. The Dolls' tissue was mostly lab grown and fitted to a default frame, depending on the model it was being grown for.

"It's not even 7 AM, do we really need to eat breakfast this early?" OTs-14 groaned as she rubbed her scarred stomach, small groans leaving her lips as her scars began to crack under her touch.

RFB appeared from within the kitchen and peeked her head out from the corner facing the hallway leading to their bedrooms. "If we don't eat early, we'll forget. It would be extremely bad if we get called out on an emergency mission and we don't have time to eat." She saluted and tipped her makeshift Chef's hat that she had constructed out of paper. "A fed soldier is a good soldier!"

OTs-14 let out a small grin and tilted her face slightly. "Trying live up to the 'housewife' hype aren't you."

RFB blushed and covered her face with her hat. "H-huh!? No! I just…wanted to start cooking for everyone."

"Let's see here: 'How to Cook for a Family of Four' and 'How to Increase your Feminine Appeal.' " OTs-14 began, reading RFB's search history on her phone out loud.

"Hey, give that back!" RFB began sprinting towards OTs-14, slipping on the polished wooden floor in the process, landing face first in front of OTs-14's feet. "Please don't say anything."

"Treat me to some **_Konobi_** and I'll think about it" said OTs-14 as she slid the cellphone back into her pocket. "Two servings."

"What's all the commotion about?" asked Zero as he emerged from Agent's room. The inside of the room had been repurposed as a makeshift hospital room, multiple monitors showing various amounts and kinds of data decorated the walls around Agent's bed-ridden body. RFB and OTs-14 peeked their heads in to have a look at Agent's condition.

"Is she…doing any better?" asked RFB as she narrowed her eyes in worry.

"She hasn't woken up yet, she'll usually move a little bit but I think those are unconscious movements." Answered Zero as he turned his head halfway to catch a glimpse of her figure on the bed. "It's been days and she hasn't gotten better, or worse."

"What should we do?" asked OTs-14 as she placed her right hand atop of RFB's head, petting her head softly to cheer her up.

"Waiting is all we can do." Zero answered softly and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

* * *

 ** _Artemis HQ/ Sicily, Italy._**

"The R&D department is having crisis at the moment, G&K bought out most of the surplus weaponry from Japan, they're planning on starting an armored division, similar to our Centaurs." Protested a man as he flung multiple pieces of paper in front of his face. "I apologize in behalf of the financial department, we shouldn't have been so careless with this purchase."

Bianco sighed and pulled a large cigar from his uniform's breast pocket. "Your apologies do nothing for us, tell me the expected damage."

"Yes sir." Responded the man in front of Bianco, taking out multiple pieces of paper with graphs and pie charts. "Due to our loss on this deal, we will have to acquire our research materials from Finland or Russia, this means that the cost of our materials will go up by thirteen percent due to currency exchange rates and delivery fees. G&K has a monopoly on materials based on the southern regions of India and China thanks to their presence there being much more substantial than ours."

"So, we're paying almost twenty percent extra for the same materials." Bianco sighed as he took a lungful of his cigar. "G&K might have a monopoly on the material side of things, but we have something better."

"Sir?" asked the man confused.

"ARTEMIS has multiple partnerships and business deals with most Weapons and Vehicle manufacturers, we even own over 90% of the stock for majority of these businesses. The problem here isn't money, we have that. Our problem lies with losing money for unnecessary reasons, our image is based on our financial and military success." Said Bianco as he stared at the man in front of him. "Find a better deal. If you can't, then make one."

"….Yes sir." Answered the man as he excited the room shortly after.

"Naomi." Said Bianco as he activated his earpiece.

"What can I do for you?" answered the woman on the other side instantly.

"The date for the entrance exams is coming soon, prepare your team." Bianco ordered before hanging up.

* * *

 ** _Business district/ Sicily, Italy._**

"I've heard the main force is having difficulties with a warship out at sea." Said Kris as he took a bite out of a fried **_Konobi_** stick.

"Is it something we will have to step in for?" asked Four as he stopped lifting his weights. Multiple people stared at his extremely muscular body as he stood in the dead center of the busy street.

"I don't know, our Naval forces are usually pretty good at dealing with issues like this, unless it's some kind of experimental weapons on SF's side, I don't think we will be called in." Kris continued as he placed his right hand in front of his eyes to shield his vision from the harsh sunlight overhead. "This summer has been extremely unforgiving."

Seven emerged out of a store nearby, multiple bags of food wrapped around her arms.

"Sun…screen." She said before handing Kris and Four a bottle of ARTEMIS branded sunscreen from her bags.

Kris nodded in a thankful manner and Four gave Seven a thumb's up with a big smile, which earned him a kick in the knee and a 'disgusting' from Seven.

Just as Four began to get back on his feet, a group of ARTEMIS soldiers with unusual patches on their uniforms appeared form within the crowd, doing their daily rounds to protect the major Sectors of the city in case of attacks.

"I haven't seen those patches before, what unit is that?" asked Kris as he threw his empty **_Konobi_** stick in the trash.

"The Legionnaires, our most recent addition." Answered Naomi, who had apparently appeared from thin air. Kris and Four spun around in surprise as soon as her voice appeared from behind them. "They're nearing the end of their trial period, soon we'll have to test them so we can gauge their capabilities. If their results aren't satisfactory, I'll dissolve the unit."

"They're regular people, aren't they?" asked Kris, a small hint of concern in his voice.

"Yes, hand-picked Elites from numerous armies around the world." Naomi responded. "Hand-picked by me, to be exact."

"If they're regular people, we can't test them like we do for everyone else." Protested Kris softly so the nearby soldiers wouldn't hear him. "We'll kill them!"

"They'll die if they don't work together, the whole point of the entrance exam is to see if they can handle working as a team, if they can't put aside their differences and work as one, then I have no need for them." Naomi responded as she looked down at Kris with a cold, predatory gaze. "Better dying by our hand than some SF grunt out in the woods."

"If they cannot learn pain…they will not succeed in the tougher missions ahead." Said Seven as she sat down beside Kris and turned her face slightly to look at the patrolling soldiers. "Most of them won't come back…from their first real mission."

* * *

Lore:

Konobi: first created in the early 2020's, Konobi is a mixture of Beef with multiple spices and herbs, it is specially sought after by soldiers due to its cheap cost and excellent taste. Konobi was first introduced as a consumer product in Japan in 2023, It didn't make its debut worldwide until ARTEMIS bought out the factories and changed the recipe to make it more cost efficient to make, and easier for the body to digest.

There is a rumor amongst G&K and ARTEMIS soldiers that Konobi was introduced to soldiers as a way to keep them in check physically and mentally. Multiple media sources have made numerous reports on this rumor.

Konobi is also the favorite food of Multiple T-Dolls thanks to it's various nutritional values.


	13. Chapter 13

"Do you have a three?" Asked a hooded figure wearing a military green jacket, another two hooded figures sitting in the same table shook their heads. The wooden floor beneath their chairs creaking ever so slightly as the they leaned closer and closer into the table.

"I do not, do you?" Asked the hooded figure wearing a flower print jacket to the figure beside it.

"Go fish." Responded the last figure wearing a Hawaiian print jacket.

"I hate card games, why are we even playing this." RFB protested as she lowered her green hood, throwing her cards into the table.

"Just passing the time, be thankful I was nice enough to share my deck." OTs-14 huffed and pouted, removing her flower print hood in the process. "Shall we play charades next? I'm out of ideas."

Zero removed his Hawaiian print hood and looked at his companions. "I'm sorry about this, you guys can leave the apartment if you want." RFB and OTs-14 raised their eyebrows in protest. "And miss her when she wakes up? Fat chance. We want to tell her about how much fun we had without her." They both answered in unison before high-fiving each other with a monstrous clap which echoed through the living room hallway.

Zero let out a small smile, standing up slowly from the table. "Fair enough, just be easy on her." OTs-14 and RFB grinned and saluted in return.

"Can we go shopping today? I need to restock the fridge and the pantry!" RFB shouted as she tried to catch up with her commander who was already midway down the main hall. OTs-14 flinched at this and slapped the back of RFB's head with a loud whack. "You used all the ingredients already!? We bought enough for this month!" OTs-shouted at her.

Zero sighed as the ensuing fight in the kitchen began to escalate in volume. "Getting along and killing each other the next second. What a team." He sighed before walking into Agent's room, her comatose body perfectly still across a medical bed.

"Hey, I hope you're feeling better." Zero whispered to nobody before fixing Agent's unkept hair. "We got orders for a backup request up at the border, I don't know when we will be back but if you wake up just let us know, alright?" The multiple beeps from the surrounding machines connected to Agent quickly broke the silence.

"Her levels haven't changed." OTs-14 said as she picked up a nearby holo-tablet. Multiple graphs and complicated mathematical equations scrolled across its screen. "Her core temperature has stabilized however."

"When did you become a medic unit, showoff." RFB softly elbowed OTs-14's side and walked to Agent's bedside. "And when did you become sleeping beauty."

"It does get pretty lonely when there isn't an extremely dangerous squad mate around to keep your reckless spending in check, doesn't it?" OTs-14 giggled behind her holo-tablet.

RFB crossed her arms and stomped her foot multiple times. "I do NOT miss her."

"Sure." OTs -14 smiled before setting her holo-tablet back into its charging station beside Agent's bed. "And I'm not an internet sensation."

"Wallet, keys, radio…alright we're good." Zero said out loud as he finished tying his boots. RFB and OTs -14 looked at each other and sighed. The commercial district was by no means a 'luxurious' place, but it had its ups and downs. For example, food and other agricultural goods could be purchased at extremely low prices, the bad side to that being the swarms of early shoppers and restaurant owners flooding the produce stands as soon as they opened, other perks include the ability to check what will be arriving the next day and being able to sell your own goods within the pre-defined stand section, this section in particular was very popular among scrappers and T-doll builders. The ability to build custom T-dolls had become a hobby of a lot of young men and women.

The walk to the shops wasn't long, the group purchased their desired items and returned home quickly, RFB and OTs-14 racing home to see who is the fastest of the two.

"Haha! I knew it, with these upgrades you never stood a chance!" OTs-14 roared in ecstasy as she touched their apartment's door, clearly ahead of the fairly later RFB. "That's no fair! You cut through the farmer's yard AND jumped over the fountain!" RFB shouted as she began stomping the ground.

"Hey guys keep it- "Zero sighed but was interrupted by the sound of an incoming call from his cellphone, he quickly pulled it out from his right pocket and put it to his ear. "Zero speaking."

* * *

 ** _2 weeks later/ coast of southern Africa, location redacted._**

Two soldiers stood atop a guard tower facing directly into a seemingly ever-expanding desert, multiple clouds of dust shooting up into the air from gusts of wind beginning to come into view.

"This is Black Bear, south side is free of activity, no activity to report." Called out one of the soldiers, slowly setting down his radio back into its appropriate slot in his tactical vest.

"Think we'll make it back before they let out the prototype?" Asked the second soldier who started dusting off his uniform, creating small clouds of dust as he smacked the shoulder area of his vest.

"You know how the company is, they'll probably release it underground or something." Sighed the first soldier, the sun shining on his Gryffon badge.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, underground testing area Codename: Olympus.**_

A mass of scientists gathered around a massive screen, multiple statistics spontaneously changing from negative to positive. The room fell silent as the numbers slowed down and finally came to a standstill.

"My god…" Whispered one of the scientists as the pen he was holding suddenly hit the floor, multiple strands of cold sweat falling down his forehead. "What have we done…"

An inhuman roar filled the room, causing everything made of glass to shatter. "You can't be serious! We can't possibly control this thing!" Cried out a female scientist, her falling to her knees, her shaking legs no longer holding her up.

"We can, and we will." Answered another scientist, this one being in front of the group. A golden badge and expensive looking suit made him stand out from the group. "Containment will be the PMC's job, for now we will graph everything it does and use it as research data for further analysis."

And with that, the mass group of scientists scattered and began typing in nearby holo-screens at incredible speeds.

The sound of heavy boots hitting metal echoed through hallway, OTs-14 appeared out of a corner, rifle in hand. "Infiltration successful, you're good to go Grimshaw."

"Copy that, Grimshaw moving in." Echoed a female voice from OTs-14's earpiece, the sound of silenced gunfire and soft thuds hitting the ground soon followed.

"How many does that make?" Asked OTs-14.

"I count five on my end, you?" Asked Grimshaw over the earpiece.

"Thirteen on the way here and two guards in the elevator." OTs-14 responded.

"Not bad" replied Grimshaw with a small grin. "I wasn't aware that RCCO did mercenary work." She continued speaking into her earpiece as she knelt down, picking up a dangling dog tag from the nearby corpse. "These guys are under-equipped for a guard force."

[ ** _Cobra here, come in Sunflower.]_** Their conversation was quickly disrupted by the sudden addition of RFB's voice in their comms channel.

"Sunflower here, go on Cobra." OTs-14 quickly replied into her ear-piece as she ejected a steaming hot magazine out of her rifle, quickly replacing it with a new one in one fluid motion with a satisfying click.

 ** _[We have intel from the Hounds, a truck leaving the current AO was carrying several charts for an experiment, according to the reports, the experiment is biomechanical in nature.]_**

"I see, Orders?" OTs-14 quickly asked, making sure she wasn't being flanked by an unknown enemy in the shadows.

 ** _[Exfil from the area, you and Grimshaw are being picked up at LZ Green in 20 minutes.]_**

"Copy that, Sunflower uprooting." OTs-14 softly whispered into her earpiece before disappearing into the shadows.

* * *

 ** _5 hours later/ debrief room 216, ARTEMIS headquarters._**

"Just to be clear, a total of 20 RCCO mercenaries were engaged, and furthermore, killed in your last OP." Asked an ARTEMIS officer who clearly did not want to be there, multiple beads of sweat began to fall down into his forehead from the incredible amount of handwriting the poor man had been doing over the past two hours or so.

"That is correct, Grimshaw and I took them down personally. Their weaponry was suspiciously subpar, a lot of their rifles were in terrible condition." OTs -14 responded politely in a professional manner.

"Is that so? Not bad Grimshaw." The officer said with a slight chuckle. "We don't usually send fresh meat out into the field with the big boys. Looks like your service time in the RAF payed off after all."

"Agreed, quite a few nice lads you have here." Grimshaw replied with a slight nod. "However, please don't call me by my callsign unless I'm out doing an OP."

The group quickly jumped up from their seats and saluted quickly at the sight of none other than Bianco himself entering the room with a slight knock of the door. "Grimshaw, AKA: The Royal Spearhead. You earned quite a nickname back in your days with the RAF for sure, Arabella." The woman simple smiled slightly and looked downwards with a slight blush from the praise given. "Twenty-six years and old and already quite a legend amongst your peers, I wonder why you chose to leave the RAF for us, after all, you weren't exactly scouted by one of ours, you kind of just…showed up" Bianco finished with a slight shrug and a tilt of his cigar.

"I heard from reliable sources that ARTEMIS was the place to go for soldiers who wanted something more than warfare in their lives, after all, this organization is very much unlike any military force I've ever seen." Arabella replied, holding her hands together near her knees. OTs-14 and the Officer watching with clear interest in their faces.

"And it is indeed." Bianco gave off a quick laugh and placed his cigar back onto his lips, taking a big lungful before exhaling the smoke into a rather large cloud of smoke. "Glad to have you on board, as I told you before, this mission was your entrance test. Color me impressed indeed so you can rest easy, you've earned your place in group Zero.


	14. Chapter 14

this may come as sudden news but after re-reading my story multiple times I've decided to pull the plug on this project. the main reason being that i feel like the story is very rushed, and not conveyed in the way that i had envisioned. i will be writing another GFL story in the future that will, hopefully, convey the story i meant to show the public in its fullest potential.

i would like to thank all the readers, new and old, that have stuck with my story until its unfortunate cancellation. i do plan to continue my Nier: Automata story and maybe write another on the side. some circumstances with family and work have somewhat hindered my ability to write at a constant pace so i will be updating the new story and my other stories in a (as possible) basis.

if you are a reader from the GFL Reddit page and have stuck with this story thus far, i would like to give you a big thank you. the support from you guys gave me strength during a very hard time in my life. i remember logging into this website and seeing that my story had hit the top of the charts in the GFL section and i was absolutely filled with joy. your support and patience has been everything to me.


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